snivel
Americanverb (used without object)
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snivels,
present (3rd person singular)
-
sniveled,
past participle, past
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snivelled,
past participle, past (especially British)
-
sniveling,
present participle
-
snivelling
present participle (especially British)
-
to weep or cry with sniffling.
-
to affect a tearful state; whine.
-
to run at the nose; have a runny nose.
She sniveled from the cold.
-
to draw up mucus audibly through the nose.
Stop sniveling and use your handkerchief.
verb (used with object)
-
snivels,
present (3rd person singular)
-
sniveled,
past participle, past
-
snivelled,
past participle, past (especially British)
-
sniveling,
present participle
-
snivelling
present participle (especially British)
noun
-
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.
-
(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
-
snivelssimple
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have sniveledperfect
-
have snivelledperfect
-
has sniveledperfect
-
has snivelledperfect
-
am snivelingprogressive
-
am snivellingprogressive
-
are snivelingprogressive
-
are snivellingprogressive
-
is snivelingprogressive
-
is snivellingprogressive
-
have been snivelingperfect progressive
-
have been snivellingperfect progressive
-
has been snivelingperfect progressive
-
has been snivellingperfect progressive
Past
-
sniveledsimple
-
snivelledsimple
-
had sniveledperfect
-
had snivelledperfect
-
was snivelingprogressive
-
was snivellingprogressive
-
were snivelingprogressive
-
were snivellingprogressive
-
had been snivelingperfect progressive
-
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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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
The Yorkshire Post declared: "Drivel and snivel, in days of challenge and strain, may almost be classed as a minor form of Fifth Column activity."
From Time Magazine Archive
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
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
“I’m sorry,” he says through snivels, burying his face in his hands.
From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman
"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
“Your clothes look cool to me,” Otto sniveled.
From "The Last Last-Day-of-Summer" by Lamar Giles
He sniveled, crying in a way that hadn’t been acceptable since he was a real little kid.
From "The Last Last-Day-of-Summer" by Lamar Giles
"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
“Dear child,” said Mrs. White, and she snivelled again.
From By the Light of the Soul A Novel by Harold M. Brett
Abel, sitting near her, snivelled softly for sympathy, not fairly comprehending her cause for tears.
From Jerome, A Poor Man A Novel by Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman
The greasy string took up the laugh, and snivelled in chorus.
From The Adventures of a Three-Guinea Watch by Talbot Baines Reed
"But it's so strange!" snivelled the little woman.
From Phemie Frost's Experiences by Ann S. (Ann Sophia) Stephens
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
Albee caricatures the foppishly professorial Fam as sniveling, ingratiating and insincere.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 7, 2022
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
The tough guy bluster is a thin disguise over his true self, which is a sniveling coward.
From Salon ● Jun. 29, 2022
When he reached the end of the silk, he turned to look at the staring servants and the sniveling lord and bent down.
From "When the Sea Turned to Silver" by Grace Lin
She recalls turning up at the door of their hotel suite, snivelling, in the middle of a downpour.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 31, 2019
The funny thing is, they're probably looking at him, thinking: who is this horrid, snivelling little worm of a man they've sent?
From The Guardian ● Jun. 2, 2012
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
The sullen, steel-grey sky seems to be permanently snivelling sleet.
From BBC ● Feb. 6, 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.
