gruntled

English

WOTD – 5 July 2012

Etymology 1

See gruntle

Adjective

gruntled (comparative more gruntled, superlative most gruntled)

1. (obsolete) Grunted.
   • 1909, Mary Austin, Lost Borders, page 172:

     Along about the time Orion's sword sloped down the west, Chabot heard their gruntled noises and the scurry of the flock.

Etymology 2

Back-formation from disgruntled (c. 1925).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡɹʌntl̩d/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

Adjective

gruntled (comparative more gruntled, superlative most gruntled)

1. (humorous) Satisfied, pleased, contented. [from 1930s]

   Antonym: disgruntled

   • 1938, P. G. Wodehouse, The Code of the Woosters:

     He spoke with a certain what-is-it in his voice, and I could see that, if not actually disgruntled, he was far from being gruntled.

   • 1994 July 25, Jack Winter, “How I met my wife”, in The New Yorker:

     It had been a rough day, so when I walked into the party I was very chalant, despite my efforts to appear gruntled and consolate.

   • 1996 March 13, Ira Berkow, “Sports of The Times: A Case For Fill-In Coaches”, in New York Times, retrieved 5 July 2012:

     After all, a number of players were disgruntled, and a few more were gruntled.

   • 2009 March 18, Ian O'Doherty, “Tyra—the cause of all evil”, in Irish Independent, retrieved 15 December 2023:

     [S]he was rumoured to be rather less than gruntled when The Soup's Joel McHale said: "Here's Ryan Seacrest and Tyra Banks playing Lady and the Tramp ... You figure out which is which."

   • 2011, Jay Shepherd, “Gruntled Employees”, in Firing at Will: A Manager's Guide‎^[1] (Business), Apress, →ISBN, page 228:

     Gruntled employees are happy employees. Gruntled employees like their coworkers. … gruntled employees like their employers. … So how do you keep your employees gruntled?

Further reading

• “gruntled”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• Michael Quinion (1996–2024) “Disgruntled and gruntled”, in World Wide Words.