snide
Americanadjective
adjective
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Also: snidey. (of a remark, etc) maliciously derogatory; supercilious
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counterfeit; sham
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of snide
First recorded in 1860–65; origin uncertain
Explanation
Snide means insulting or contemptuous in an indirect way. If your friend is wearing too much purple eye shadow and your other friend whispers to you, “What? Was she in a car wreck?” that’s a snide comment. Snide remarks are the kinds of things people say with a sneer on their face. When you leave a movie theater and your friend says, “I can’t believe someone was actually paid to write that screenplay,” he’s being snide. Instead of saying, “That movie was terrible,” he's expressing his disdain in a more underhanded and indirect way.
Vocabulary lists containing snide
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Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
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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.
See Examples For:
As is the case throughout, the questioners—the chairman, played with snide malice by Michael McKean, is flanked by two “investigators”—are pious, bullying and laughably disingenuous.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 18, 2026
Then she treated Congress with snide hostility when it asked her to answer basic questions about it.
From Slate ● Apr. 3, 2026
But where “The Monkey’s” snide sense of humor about its kills quickly grew smug, this time Perkins’ light touch — even during the most frightening moments — gives this slight film just the right proportionality.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 14, 2025
My measly basket is filled with nothing but candy, earning a few snide looks from my cashier.
From Salon ● Sep. 13, 2025
He had come here with the intention of embarrassing a snide assassin, and had instead found a young woman pouring her secrets into a pianoforte.
From "Throne of Glass" by Sarah J. Maas
I only had the "Dutchman," and my attendant Monsoor carried a snider rifle; thus we were badly armed for so impenetrable a beast.
From Ismailia by Sir Samuel White Baker
The teak boxes for snider ammunition, also the boxes of Hale's rockets, were lined and hermetically sealed with soldered tin.
From Ismailia by Sir Samuel White Baker
The authorities at Woolwich had kindly supplied the expedition with 200 Hale's rockets—three-pounders—and fifty snider rifles, together with 50,000 rounds of snider ammunition.
From Ismailia by Sir Samuel White Baker
I served out fifteen rounds of snider ammunition per man to the 'Forty Thieves,' thus filling up their pouches to thirty rounds.
From Ismailia by Sir Samuel White Baker
The total, including that from the men's cartouche-boxes, was cartridges for snider rifles 4,540 and cartridges for muskets 4,330, making a total of 8,870 rounds.
From Ismailia by Sir Samuel White Baker
We know this because Charles Dance recites Michelangelo’s snidest journal passages throughout, bringing a welcome pettiness to an otherwise staid chapter of art history.
From Salon ● May 16, 2026
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
