gnarly
Americanadjective
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twisted with or as if with gnarls or knots; gnarled.
long and gnarly fingers.
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Slang. distasteful or distressing; offensive; gross.
a comic noted for his gnarly humor.
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Slang. excellent; wonderful.
The live album has some gnarly guitar riffs and sweet bass lines.
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Slang. difficult or dangerous.
the gnarly surf.
adjective
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another word for gnarled
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informal good; great
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slang surfing difficult and dangerous
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of gnarly
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!"
Vocabulary lists containing gnarly
"The Ravine," Vocabulary from the short story
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"The Ravine" by Graham Salisbury
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Butterfly Yellow
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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.
A gnarly debate at the center of modern AI research boils down to this: Can a system modeled on the human nervous system ever actually match a human’s abilities?
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 17, 2026
Nor are members choosing to resign instead of waiting for a gnarly Ethics Committee report to drop.
From Slate • Apr. 16, 2026
“The North Shore is pretty gnarly right now. So hopefully everyone’s safe and getting out. Stay safe out there,” he added.
From MarketWatch • Mar. 30, 2026
That determination to live on one’s own terms, no matter how gnarly or weird other people thought you were, is what fueled Fat Mike and NOFX, and judging from the trailer, that hasn’t changed.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 20, 2026
I raked a brush through my wet, gnarly hair and put the mermaid necklace over my head.
From "The Line Tender" by Kate Allen
Definitions 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.
