How to Use growl in a Sentence

growl

1 of 2 verb
  • I could hear a dog growling behind me.
  • He's always growling about the government.
  • My stomach's been growling all morning.
  • Patients may growl or hiss at you.
    — Daniel De Visé, USA Today, 31 Mar. 2026
  • Maybe you’ve been surprised by the fear that’s growled and snarled from the back of your head.
    — Jenny Sharaf, The Cut, 25 June 2018
  • Two, in kingly red velour robes across their backs, growled at each other.
    — Kim Hjelmgaard, USA TODAY, 6 May 2023
  • Turn a crank and the man groaned and waved one arm over his mouth while the animal growled.
    — Ron Charles, Washington Post, 6 June 2023
  • The jaguar growled, whirled and bit off the protruding head of the arrow.
    — Delbert L. Chears, Outdoor Life, 5 Mar. 2026
  • Neither will support dogs that growl at, jump on or try to bite other fliers.
    — Joe Marusak, charlotteobserver, 14 May 2018
  • Beau growled at the newcomer, and for a moment, my heart was in my throat.
    — Doree Shafrir, Vox, 9 July 2019
  • Shirley-Girl ignores her mostly, but has growled and played many times.
    — cleveland.com, 22 Aug. 2019
  • There was a far-off purring or growling noise on the horizon, with what looks to be a dark cloud.
    — New York Times, 28 Mar. 2018
  • There’s the simple fact that your growling, crampy stomach can wake you up.
    — Nina Bahadur, SELF, 11 Aug. 2018
  • The bear stood on one rock, growling and snarling at the baying hounds below.
    — John McCoy, Outdoor Life, 12 Nov. 2025
  • Long-tails growled slowly along, stuffed with tourists in orange life jackets.
    — New York Times, 10 Apr. 2018
  • Reeds rasp, bows grind, voices growl, and strings shimmer with overtones.
    — Burkhard Bilger, The New Yorker, 27 Mar. 2023
  • Ribeiro made a growling face while Maksim made a zombie face.
    — Kimberlee Speakman, Peoplemag, 24 Nov. 2023
  • This isn't a show with riffs that get into your bones or growls that stir your soul or any of those old rock cliches.
    — Andrew Dansby, Houston Chronicle, 29 Apr. 2018
  • The bear pulled up at 25 yards, then stood, swinging its head from side to side and growling.
    — Marguerite Reiss, Outdoor Life, 9 Oct. 2025
  • Why growl at Midge’s icebox parenting, which the show sees as adorable?
    — Anthony Lan, The New Yorker, 8 Aug. 2021
  • Jackie may not growl though, and instead, have a blank expression across her face.
    — Cathy M. Rosenthal, ExpressNews.com, 6 Nov. 2020
  • Stephen gets all purple-faced and mad, growling that he should have been consulted!
    — Kathleen Walsh, Vulture, 20 Jan. 2026
  • The dog growled and Esposito slowed his pace.
    — René Guzman, San Antonio Express-News, 21 Jan. 2026
  • The bears growl and grunt at each other while using their jaws and paws as weapons to batter each other.
    — Sage Marshall, Field & Stream, 27 Feb. 2023
  • That solved the problem of my growling stomach, but the headaches and spacey feeling were still there.
    — Ashley Edwards Walker, Good Housekeeping, 2 Mar. 2018
  • One bear-like creature — very much not your average bear — growls with the screams of its recent prey.
    — Jake Coyle, Detroit Free Press, 22 Feb. 2018
  • Night terrors might lead to thrashing limbs, growling, or biting.
    — Alyce Collins, MSNBC Newsweek, 5 Aug. 2025
  • Others emphasized the sound, likening it to a kind of growling or low roar.
    — Martin Weil, Washington Post, 2 Jan. 2024
  • Ghost crabs owe their rasping stomach growls to a mechanism known as the gastric mill.
    — Meilan Solly, Smithsonian, 12 Sep. 2019
  • The clip begins with the bears growling and roaring at each other, while standing in a ditch.
    — Robyn Merrett, PEOPLE.com, 24 Sep. 2019

growl

2 of 2 noun
  • We could hear a growl of thunder in the distance.
  • The dog gave a menacing growl.
  • He answered my question with a growl.
  • The growls and snarls of his hounds had turned to yelps and shrieks.
    — John McCoy, Outdoor Life, 12 Nov. 2025
  • There was no growl, no warning bark.
    — Samantha Agate, Miami Herald, 25 Mar. 2026
  • Bangkok pulses and seethes, throbs and growls.
    — Tom Parker Bowles, Condé Nast Traveler, 18 July 2024
  • The first growl had come from behind us, at the end of the beach.
    — Mariana Enriquez, The New Yorker, 14 Dec. 2020
  • The flat-six fires with a gruff growl, then settles to a breathy idle.
    — Tim Pitt, Robb Report, 18 Mar. 2021
  • Now the man says, in his soft growl, The front wheel’s stuck in mud.
    — Rebecca Curtis, The New Yorker, 9 Nov. 2020
  • His desire to hug and kiss the dog is sometimes met with a growl.
    — Amy Dickinson, Detroit Free Press, 27 Nov. 2020
  • Then and now, there is no lid for hip hop’s sound, no cage for its platinum growl.
    — Jason Parham, WIRED, 7 Aug. 2023
  • There was no growl, no buildup — just sudden contact.
    — Samantha Agate, Charlotte Observer, 25 Mar. 2026
  • Kate could sing a ballad but also whoop it up and toss off a throaty growl.
    — David Browne, Rolling Stone, 1 Apr. 2021
  • The boar announced its presence with a growl and charged the two men through the brush.
    — Cameron Evans, Outdoor Life, 6 July 2023
  • There’s no subwoofer, and two speakers can’t reach that low-end growl on their own.
    — Chris Welch, The Verge, 29 Nov. 2018
  • Drive it hard, though, and plenty of flat-four growl can still be heard through the firewall.
    — Mike Sutton, Car and Driver, 5 Dec. 2022
  • Pulling away does nothing but elicit a snorting growl and a tighter clamp.
    — Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 25 June 2018
  • Their distinctive calls are a mixture of barks, growls and grunts.
    — Margaret Osborne, Smithsonian Magazine, 15 Nov. 2023
  • The answer wasn’t so much a word as a growl and maybe a gallon of green, sticky vomit.
    — Kory Grow, Rolling Stone, 7 Aug. 2023
  • Wolf’s voice, a bone-rattling growl, is his greatest legacy.
    — Daniel De Visé, USA Today, 10 Nov. 2025
  • My father was a lump under the covers, snoring a thick growl.
    — Literary Hub, 4 Mar. 2026
  • At his feet is the lion, sleek, alert, tail curled like a scimitar, mouth opened wide in a growl.
    — New York Times, 11 July 2019
  • Shiv delivers one to the press through a low monotone, almost a growl.
    — Lauren Puckett-Pope, ELLE, 11 Apr. 2023
  • The engine note dropped an octave to a growl, and traction control turned off.
    — cleveland, 7 Jan. 2023
  • Range hoods pack electronic chips that suppress the growl of fan motors.
    — Benoit Morenne, WSJ, 12 Mar. 2021
  • If the gas generator comes on, the growl is quite pronounced.
    — Emma Jayne Williams, star-telegram, 28 Oct. 2017
  • The iconic car is known for its muscle, its growl, and its…gas consumption.
    — Christian De Looper, BGR, 21 Oct. 2021
  • This is about the growl around the dinner table and the running over the rooftops, screaming.
    — Kathryn Shattuck, New York Times, 30 Mar. 2021
  • The growl of a throat-clear, sounding almost gratified, came down the line.
    — Colin Barrett, The New Yorker, 6 Dec. 2021
  • Once the weird burning smell from the room’s heater went away, I was lulled to sleep by its gentle growl.
    — Crystal Paul, The Seattle Times, 7 Aug. 2018

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'growl.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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