snivel
Americanverb (used without object)
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to weep or cry with sniffling.
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to affect a tearful state; whine.
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to run at the nose; have a runny nose.
She sniveled from the cold.
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to draw up mucus audibly through the nose.
Stop sniveling and use your handkerchief.
verb (used with object)
noun
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weak, whining, or pretended weeping.
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a light sniffle, as in weeping.
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a hypocritical show of feeling.
a sentimental snivel.
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mucus running from the nose.
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(the) snivels, a sniveling condition; a slight cold; the sniffles.
verb
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(intr) to sniffle as a sign of distress, esp contemptibly
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to utter (something) tearfully; whine
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(intr) to have a runny nose
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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snivelsimple
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snivelssimple
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have sniveledperfect
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have snivelledperfect
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has sniveledperfect
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has snivelledperfect
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am snivelingprogressive
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am snivellingprogressive
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are snivelingprogressive
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are snivellingprogressive
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is snivelingprogressive
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is snivellingprogressive
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have been snivelingperfect progressive
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have been snivellingperfect progressive
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has been snivelingperfect progressive
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has been snivellingperfect progressive
Past
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sniveledsimple
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snivelledsimple
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had sniveledperfect
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had snivelledperfect
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was snivelingprogressive
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was snivellingprogressive
-
were snivelingprogressive
-
were snivellingprogressive
-
had been snivelingperfect progressive
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had been snivellingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of snivel
First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English snyvele; compare Old English snyflung “sniveling,” derivative of snofl “mucus”; cognate with Low German snüfeln
Explanation
Sometimes, when you really want something, you might resort to whining and blubbering to get it — in other words, you'll snivel. It's never pretty, so try to keep your dignity, and don't snivel! If you want a real picture of the verb snivel, consider that the meaning of the assumed Old English word snyflan meant "to run at the nose, to sniffle." Even worse, that was derived from snofl, or "mucus." Pretty picture, eh? The word came to mean "be tearful," and it suggested someone who was weak or nasty. Today it is often used in its adjective form, sniveling, followed by a contemptuous noun like "coward."
Vocabulary lists containing snivel
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
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"Of Mice and Men"
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Instead of "Said": Words For Sad Speech
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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:
And I whine a little bit and moan and snivel, and that works.
From New York Times ● Jun. 28, 2021
Deny your partner a Facebook or Twitter account if you want, but don't snivel when people are swirling their fingers round their ears at talk of your name.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 8, 2011
Basketball's all-time biggest draw retires to the golf links, the second-rate wannabes he turned into multimillionaires snivel about their economic hardship, and the league still finds ways to fill the tent.
From Time Magazine Archive
It is a question of audience psychology, of knowing what will make the playgoing mass guffaw, snivel, clap its hands.
From Time Magazine Archive
I snivel and sniff and give a weak nod.
From "The Queen of Water" by Laura Resau
Zachary Quinto snivels in prime form as the insecure son of Niagara, and Pearce’s screenplay saves some of its sharpest stuff for their less-than-idyllic relationship.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 8, 2018
Yet another former South Korean President, Lee Myung-bak, was described with “sweats, snivels and tears all over his face.”
From The New Yorker ● May 14, 2017
Bruno becomes more interesting, she grows less so, and still she snivels at center stage, whining about her bad luck and mistreatment.
From New York Times ● Mar. 19, 2015
The South that simpers, storms and snivels in these pages moves along a sort of up-to-date Tobacco Road, paved right into town.
From Time Magazine Archive
He snivels and squints into the distance, searching the stony brown hills.
From "Without Refuge" by Jane Mitchell
"You know what, I, I, I, find that ludicrous. But if it's the case, maybe you'll win a Pulitzer for that," he sniveled.
From Salon ● May 9, 2022
In a surprisingly involved moment, the character cowered and sniveled as the desire for vengeance coursed through me.
From Slate ● Feb. 23, 2010
He sniveled: "S'elp me, Hi honly done it to sive a few bob t'buy warm clothes for me wife an' child!"
From Time Magazine Archive
“A lot of good that does me,” the C.I.D. man sniveled.
From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller
“Sorry I gave you a hard time this morning,” I sniveled.
From "Fourth Grade Rats" by Jerry Spinelli
"I didn't realise what I'd done," Tabloid Wayne snivelled to shock Richard Keys and jock Andy Gray in reference to that post-West Ham swearing ballyhoo that folks keep banging on about.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 13, 2011
Pip's head slunk down deeper yet between his shoulders at that, and he snivelled worse than ever.
From Ben Pepper by Sidney, Margaret
"Oh, you cunning thing!" exclaimed Polly, throwing her arms around him, while Jocko seized her gown and huddled and snivelled into it, getting away from Ben as far as possible.
From Ben Pepper by Sidney, Margaret
Abel, sitting near her, snivelled softly for sympathy, not fairly comprehending her cause for tears.
From Jerome, A Poor Man A Novel by Freeman, Mary Eleanor Wilkins
“I’m numbed, I’m all crushed!” snivelled Ike; nevertheless he managed to crawl out, or rather slip out from under the uplifted rail.
From Ralph on the Overland Express The Trials and Triumphs of a Young Engineer by Chapman, Allen
It sounds a lot better than LARPing “Mad Max,” although it also sounds like a version of Neo who crawled back in the Matrix, sniveling like a scared puppy.
From Salon ● Feb. 16, 2025
Um, it might be the last debate before the Iowa caucuses — it is worth your time, even if you just stoop to name-calling like, “begone you sniveling weasel.”
From Washington Times ● Dec. 6, 2023
I’d expect Matthew Macfadyen to repeat as the sniveling Tom Wambsgans, but he could split the vote with the likes of Alexander Skarsgård, Nicholas Braun and possibly others.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 30, 2023
Nathaniel Sullivan sang the King — Edward II, as imagined by Christopher Marlowe then reimagined by Crimp — with sniveling command, the monarch’s weakness to the fore.
From New York Times ● Aug. 10, 2022
My face twists, and before I know it I’m sniveling like a child.
From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen
She recalls turning up at the door of their hotel suite, snivelling, in the middle of a downpour.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 31, 2019
But it’s true to my relationship with both father and sister; they the daring adventurers, me the snivelling tell-tale.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 19, 2018
His face is peppered with sand and the dank, snivelling sky has left his sweatshirt decidedly damp and clammy.
From BBC ● Jan. 29, 2018
She hated how the cops—both cops—were staring at her, like they’d never seen anything so sad or so pathetic before, like she was some snivelling little mangy dog.
From The New Yorker ● Mar. 22, 2010
But to himself he said when he had let the lad go snivelling home, “We must get back to the land.”
From "The Good Earth" by Pearl S. Buck
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.
