gruntled

English
WOTD – 5 July 2012

Etymology

Back-formation from disgruntled.[1]

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ˈɡɹʌntl̩d/

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," 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," Irish Independent (retrieved 5 July 2012):
      [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 (Business), Apress, →ISBN Invalid 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

References
  1. “gruntled” (US) / “gruntled” (UK) in Oxford Dictionaries, Oxford University Press.
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