Meaning & use
chew
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Meanings
verbtransitive or intransitive
To bite and crush food repeatedly with the teeth before swallowing it.
Grammar: With an object: chew the meat; without one: chew slowly.
Patterns
- chew something
- chew on something
Chew your food slowly so it is easier to digest.
The puppy chewed my slipper to pieces.
He chewed for a long time before answering.
verbtransitive or intransitive
To bite something repeatedly without swallowing it, often from habit or nervousness.
Grammar: Often followed by on or at: chew on a pen.
Patterns
- chew on something
- chew at something
She chewed on her pencil during the exam.
The dog chewed at the bone for hours.
He chews gum when he is nervous.
verbtransitive or intransitiveinformalfigurative
To think about something carefully for a long time.
Grammar: Used with over or on, and it is informal: chew it over.
Patterns
- chew something over
- chew on something
I need to chew over your offer before I answer.
She chewed on the problem all weekend.
They chewed it over during lunch.
nouncountable
A piece of food or other object meant to be chewed, or the act of chewing.
Grammar: Often used for treats: a chew for dogs.
Patterns
- a chew toy
The dog got a rawhide chew as a treat.
He took a long chew on the toffee.
Pet shops sell chews of all shapes.
Word forms
| third person singular | chews |
|---|---|
| past tense | chewed |
| past participle | chewed |
| -ing form | chewing |
Common combinations
- chew gum
- Students are not allowed to chew gum in class.
- chew your food
- Chew your food carefully.
- chew over
- Let me chew it over tonight.
- chew on
- The puppy likes to chew on shoes.
- chew the fat
- The old friends sat chewing the fat for hours.
- chew up
- The machine chewed up the paper.
Synonyms and how they differ
- munch
- Munch suggests noisy, enthusiastic chewing, while chew is neutral.
- gnaw
- Gnaw means to bite persistently at something hard, usually by animals, whereas chew is general.
- masticate
- Masticate is a formal medical word for chew.
- ponder
- Ponder is a more formal word for thinking about something carefully, whereas chew over is casual.
Opposites
Word family
- chewy adjective
- needing a lot of chewing
- chewing noun
- the act of biting food repeatedly
- chewer noun
- a person who chews
- chewable adjective
- able to be chewed
Commonly confused: chew or chow? chew or choose?
chew vs chow
Chow is informal for food or a breed of dog, and it is not the act of biting.
chew vs choose
Choose means to select, and it has a different spelling and sound.
Practice
I'd like a day to ___ over your proposal before I give you an answer.
Choose one answer.
Chew over means to think about something carefully. Chase over has no such meaning, so it cannot complete the phrase.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “chew”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.