gnarly

American  

[nahr-lee] / ˈnɑr li /

adjective

gnarlier, gnarliest

1. twisted with or as if with gnarls or knots; gnarled.

   long and gnarly fingers.

2. Slang. distasteful or distressing; offensive; gross.

   a comic noted for his gnarly humor.

3. Slang. excellent; wonderful.

   The live album has some gnarly guitar riffs and sweet bass lines.

4. Slang. difficult or dangerous.

   the gnarly surf.

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gnarly British  

/ ˈnɑːlɪ /

adjective

1. another word for gnarled

2. informal good; great

3. slang surfing difficult and dangerous

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Other Word Forms

• gnarliness
  noun

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Etymology

Origin of gnarly

First recorded in 1820–30; gnarl ¹ + -y ¹

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Explanation

Something gnarly is twisted, knotty, or bent, like the gnarly branches of an old apple tree or the gnarly fingers of an elderly person. "Gnarled and knotted" is the original meaning of this adjective, from the Middle English knar, "knob, knot, or mass." Confusingly, though, it's just as commonly used in two other (completely opposite) ways, to mean both "difficult" and "wonderful." In the 1970s, North American surfers adopted gnarly into their slang to describe a huge, dangerous wave. Later it came to mean "awesome," as in: "Listen to this gnarly guitar solo!"

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

gnarly gnarlier gnarliest

The landscape was rugged and swampy, filled with insects and dense vegetation that Osinski described as "deep, twisty, gnarly vegetation."

From Science Daily ● Sep. 22, 2026

Preparing for a gnarly thunderstorm that would probably wipe out our power?

From Salon ● Jun. 13, 2026

No matter how gnarly the form and finish, there’s always a whiff of the precious and the cute—or, in the case of avant-garde “sculptural” jewelry, the pretentious or vainglorious.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 10, 2026

The result was Pinkerton, a gnarly, bruised album that tapped into Cuomo's loneliness, boredom and anger.

From BBC ● Mar. 13, 2026

It reminded me of the Tree of Power back in MidPass, with its gnarly roots and roof-like branches.

From "Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky" by Kwame Mbalia

These intimations of mortality, which I wouldn’t have minded hearing about in even gnarlier detail, suggest cracks in Barbie’s psyche, but also in Barbie Land’s very foundations.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 18, 2023

A gnarlier control issue arises if robots are rude in the service of a societal, rather than personal, goal.

From Slate ● Aug. 23, 2021

A cessation of hostilities has been declared between Casablancas’s gnarlier meanderings in his side-gig, the Voidz, and the effortless, five-way synchromesh of peak Strokes.

From The Guardian ● Apr. 11, 2020

Yet it is getting nastier and gnarlier out there.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 31, 2019

And so Ms. Hynes is perhaps the ideal person to remind the world about Tom Murphy, the spiritual forebear of this younger, gnarlier cohort.

From New York Times ● Jun. 29, 2012

Skateboarders are trying to pull off their gnarliest trick: saving San Francisco’s most hated monument from extinction.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 7, 2026

“In contrast, this year has so much death metal in the basement. This is the gnarliest Barboza we’ve ever had.”

From Seattle Times ● May 3, 2024

All went well up to day 13 of 16, when the group of rafters approached Lava Falls, “the gnarliest rapid I’ve ever navigated” and one you can’t avoid by portaging.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2023

When that rockabilly figure went on his long hiatus, the band morphed into Switchblade, still one of the snarliest, gnarliest bands to come out of D.C.

From Washington Post ● Nov. 30, 2022

Quarterback Justin Herbert’s high throw to Mike Williams hit the wide receiver’s hands, but Baltimore’s Marlon Humphrey — one of the gnarliest corners in this N.F.L. — was on the spot to rough up Williams.

From New York Times ● Oct. 17, 2021

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