gnarly

[ nahr-lee ]

/ ˈnɑr li /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR gnarly ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective, gnarl·i·er, gnarl·i·est.

gnarled.

Slang. distasteful; distressing; offensive; gross: a comic noted for his gnarly humor.

Nearby words

gn, gnamma hole, gnar, gnarl, gnarled, gnarly, gnash, gnash one's teeth, gnashers, gnat, gnat-catcher

Origin of gnarly

First recorded in 1820–30; gnarl¹ + -y¹

Related formsgnarl·i·ness, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for gnarly

A helicopter hovered overhead, catching every second of the gnarly ride.
Top Five Biggest Surfer Waves (Video)|The Daily Beast|November 14, 2011|DAILY BEAST
Work, especially, sees you getting kinks out of gnarly systems and operations.
Horoscopes: The Week of March 27|Starsky + Cox|March 26, 2011|DAILY BEAST
Charred palm trees loomed over the road like gnarly fingers up through the ground.
My Surreal Return to Iraq|Louise Roug Bokkenheuser|August 21, 2010|DAILY BEAST
The individual thus addressed slowly rose out of his chair, exhibiting a squat, gnarly figure surmounted by a very large head.
The Clarion|Samuel Hopkins Adams

The latter had been shaved and smoothed over every gnarly place.
The Girls of Central High Aiding the Red Cross|Gertrude W. Morrison
Her neck, far too liberally exhibited, resembled nothing so much as the stem of an ill-conditioned, gnarly young olive tree.
The British Expedition to the Crimea|William Howard Russell
If the horn is not cut close enough to the head, an irregular, gnarly growth of horn is liable to follow.
Special Report on Diseases of Cattle|U.S. Department of Agriculture
Back of it opened a hillside brown with dead ferns, dotted with great solitary firs and gnarly branched arbutus.
Poor Man's Rock|Bertrand W. Sinclair

British Dictionary definitions for gnarly

gnarly

/ (ˈnɑːlɪ) /

adjective

another word for gnarled

NZ informal good; great

surfing slang difficult and dangerous

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for gnarly

gnarly

adj.

1829, "knotted and rugged," from gnarl (see gnarled) + -y (2). Picked up 1970s as surfer slang to describe a dangerous wave; it had spread in teen slang by 1982, where it meant both "excellent" and "disgusting."

gnarly

adjective, gnarl·i·er, gnarl·i·est.

RELATED WORDS

Nearby words

Origin of gnarly

Examples from the Web for gnarly

British Dictionary definitions for gnarly

gnarly

adjective

Word Origin and History for gnarly

gnarly