gut-wrenching
Americanadjective
adjective
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It’s not “Up”-level gut-wrenching, but the scenes establishing the heartbroken boy’s lingering trauma hit pretty hard.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 23, 2026
That hasn’t happened since World War II. It took a famously gut-wrenching recession to wring out the last bout of high inflation from the economy in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
From MarketWatch • Feb. 14, 2026
Amy Madigan’s gut-wrenching turn in “Weapons” as the despicable, bewigged witch Aunt Gladys became impossible for the Academy to ignore, largely thanks to the amount of hype surrounding Madigan’s character.
From Salon • Jan. 23, 2026
Nikola Jokic suffered a "gut-wrenching" knee injury as the Denver Nuggets crashed to a heavy 147-123 defeat against the Miami Heat in the NBA on Monday.
From Barron's • Dec. 30, 2025
The first thing I remember about being a person living in Little Rock, Arkansas, during the 1940s is the gut-wrenching fear in my heart and in my tummy that I was in danger.
From "March Forward, Girl" by Melba Pattillo Beals
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
