snowball
Americannoun
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snowballs
plural
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any of several shrubs belonging to the genus Viburnum, of the honeysuckle family, having large clusters of white, sterile flowers.
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a confection of crushed ice, usually in the shape of a ball, which is flavored with fruit or other syrup and served in a paper cup.
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a scoop or ball of ice cream covered with shredded coconut and usually chocolate sauce.
verb (used with object)
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snowballs,
present (3rd person singular)
-
snowballed,
past participle, past
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snowballing
present participle
-
to throw snowballs at.
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to cause to grow or become larger, greater, more intense, etc., at an accelerating rate.
to snowball a small business into a great enterprise.
verb (used without object)
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snowballs,
present (3rd person singular)
-
snowballed,
past participle, past
-
snowballing
present participle
noun
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snow pressed into a ball for throwing, as in play
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a drink made of advocaat and lemonade
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slang a mixture of heroin and cocaine
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a dance started by one couple who separate and choose different partners. The process continues until all present are dancing
verb
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(intr) to increase rapidly in size, importance, etc
their woes have snowballed since last year
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(tr) to throw snowballs at
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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snowballsimple
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snowballssimple
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have snowballedperfect
-
has snowballedperfect
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am snowballingprogressive
-
are snowballingprogressive
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is snowballingprogressive
-
have been snowballingperfect progressive
-
has been snowballingperfect progressive
Past
-
snowballedsimple
-
had snowballedperfect
-
was snowballingprogressive
-
were snowballingprogressive
-
had been snowballingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of snowball
Vocabulary lists containing snowball
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:
"I'm optimistic that we're all snowflakes in that snowball that's getting bigger and bigger."
From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026
Meteor showers happen when the Earth passes through trails of debris from asteroids or comets - a snowball of frozen rock and gas orbiting the Sun.
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026
If Japan’s interest rates increase again to support the yen then there’s a danger it could snowball again as savings rush home and hedge funds cash in their chips all at once.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 2026
“But from the point of view of energy, this is a snowball — and every week that passes, you have tighter markets,” Brito said.
From MarketWatch ● May 12, 2026
“Maisie, if it snows, can we have a snowball fight? Can we go sledding and make snow angels?”
From "The Sea in Winter" by Christine Day
The marks left by the so called "cosmic snowballs" on Dimorphos suggest that debris spun off Didymos and later landed on its companion.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 8, 2026
Then some older kid would decide that this was personal, and within minutes it was a full campaign of snowballs and tackle football in our park turned blank white.
From Slate ● Feb. 28, 2026
"Our ancestors were surely doing the same thing. It's the oldest winter sport in human history: long before skating or skiing, humans were already throwing snowballs at each other. That's its biggest appeal."
From Barron's ● Feb. 22, 2026
Many are ephemeral; fleeting leaf sculptures that blow away into the forest or giant snowballs placed in the city of London which melted to disclose sticks and stones.
From BBC ● Feb. 6, 2026
First I thought nothing was going to happen, because I could see big blobs of fuel coming out of the engine and disappearing in the distance, like a string of snowballs.
From "Flying to the Moon: An Astronaut's Story" by Michael Collins
The show's popularity snowballed and resulted in a big-screen adaptation, which also starred Susan Sarandon, Barry Bostwick and O'Brien.
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026
Then, coupled with Cheah’s own social-media efforts, it snowballed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
What began as online outrage over exam scandals has snowballed into protests against India's education system, posing one of the biggest challenges to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his third term in office.
From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026
“I’ve seen Los Angeles when it was beautiful, and what it has snowballed into,” she said.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 1, 2026
As these things often seem to happen, the disaster snowballed.
From "Woodsong" by Gary Paulsen
Jason Arday, who made headlines when appointed as Cambridge's youngest black professor in 2023, resigned Wednesday after the university announced a probe into snowballing claims he plagiarised parts of his PhD thesis.
From Barron's ● Aug. 7, 2026
The snowballing retreat in software stocks that gathered up big tech, private credit, and even the corporate bond market this past week ended in a remarkable rebound, leaving investors bracing for more turbulence ahead.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 9, 2026
This has resulted in a very positive snowballing of monthly benefits that wouldn’t have otherwise occurred.
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 4, 2025
Union bosses say teachers are under unprecedented pressure, suffering from snowballing demands, ever increasing workloads and, in many cases, burnout.
From BBC ● Nov. 11, 2025
By the time they finished snowballing Dorothy Gruzik’s house, it was nearly white, and Beans had forgotten that he was cold.
From "Wringer" by Jerry Spinelli
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.
