gnarled
/nɑː(ɹ)ld/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 2.37 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
1
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
simple past and past participle of gnarl (Etymology 1)
verb
simple past and past participle of gnarl (Etymology 2)
Example Sentences
- "Three chairs of the steamer type, all maimed, comprised the furniture of this roof-garden, with […] on one of the copings a row of four red clay flower-pots filled with sun-baked dust from which gnarled and rusty stalks thrust themselves up like withered elfin limbs."
- "For students of history and culture, the cherry trees’ delicate flowers and gnarled trunks speak to the enduring soft power of global goodwill, culture, and faith in a better future to overcome division, including wartime enmity and destruction."
Etymology
First attested Shakespeare 1603: : Thy sharpe and sulpherous bolt Splits the vn-wedgable [unwedgable] and gnarled Oke [oak]. : Measure for Measure, Act II, scene ii, line 116 Variant of knurled, from knurl. By surface analysis, gnarl + -ed, though gnarl is a later back-formation. Popular use by 19th century.
Inflected Forms
more gnarled (comparative)
most gnarled (superlative)