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# grunt

«grunt» in Mova's school dictionary: **to make a short low sound in your throat, like a pig** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 4 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

verb (grunt, grunts, grunted, grunting); noun (a grunt, grunts)

### meaning for a pupil

1) To grunt is to make a short low sound in your throat, like a pig. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/grunt/#m1)

2) A grunt is that sound. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/grunt/#m2)

3) People grunt when lifting something heavy, or to answer without words when they are tired or grumpy. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/grunt/#m3)

4) (slang) A grunt is a low-ranking soldier or worker who does hard, boring jobs. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/grunt/#m4)

### sense in the lessons

In stories, a grunt shows a character is grumpy, tired or straining. Pigs grunt, and so do tennis players hitting hard. «Grunt work» means boring hard work.

### examples

- The pig grunted in the mud. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/grunt/#x1)
- Dad grunted as he lifted the sofa. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/grunt/#x2)
- My brother just grunts when I ask about school. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/grunt/#x3)
- The tennis player grunted with every shot. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/grunt/#x4)
- He gave a grunt of agreement. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/grunt/#x5)
- I got stuck with all the grunt work. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/grunt/#x6)
- But the ugly old Fairy only grunted and made no answer. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/grunt/#x7)

### note

Past: grunted. Grunting instead of answering can seem rude.

### In the corpora

- [Company,» he grunts, and turns his back and disappears.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/27-willows-ch1-part3-otter-badger-and-toad/4/)
- [Badger: «a stripy head, with high shoulders behind it» peered out of a hedge, grunted «H'm!](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/27-willows-ch1-part3-otter-badger-and-toad/21/)
- [In Calgary, Lorcan, 16, stops talking, stays in his room and grunts at dinner.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/501-big-brothers/17/)
- [Cartoon cavemen who grunt and ride dinosaurs are pure fantasy: dinosaurs died out about 66 million years before the first humans.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/history/1-the-first-people/6/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «grunt» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/grunt/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.