snarly

¹

[snahr-lee]

adjective

snarlier, snarliest 

1. apt to snarl; easily irritated.

snarly

²

[snahr-lee]

adjective

snarlier, snarliest 

1. full of knotty snarls; snarl; tangled.

Word History and Origins

Origin of snarly¹

First recorded in 1790–1800; snarl ¹ + -y ¹

Origin of snarly²

First recorded in 1640–50; snarl ² + -y ¹

Example Sentences

Her understated androgyny was paired with a shout-singing vocal style that had a snarly, monotone curl laced with abandon and disregard for convention.

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She was a bit snarly at first, he added.

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“Drivers are generally snarly because they are tired, they’re hungry, and their schedules suck, and they tend to take it out on other people.”

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He could be so snarly, though, that Senator William B. Saxbe, Republican of Ohio, memorably derided him as Nixon’s “hatchet man” and said he was so disagreeable, “he couldn’t sell beer on a troop ship.”

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It looked like a scene from one of the snarly zombie apocalypse series my husband keeps watching — far from the orderly museum visit Clyde is gaslighting his voters with.

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