snuffy

American  

[snuhf-ee] / ˈsnʌf i /

adjective

snuffier, snuffiest

1. resembling snuff.

2. soiled with snuff.

3. given to the use of snuff.

4. having an unpleasant appearance.

5. having hurt feelings.

6. easily displeased.

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snuffy British  

/ ˈsnʌfɪ /

adjective

1. of, relating to, or resembling snuff

2. covered with or smelling of snuff

3. unpleasant; disagreeable

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Other Word Forms

• snuffiness
  noun

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Etymology

Origin of snuffy

First recorded in 1780–90; snuff ¹ + -y ¹

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

snuffy snuffiest

Born in 1885, in a grimy coal-mining village in Nottingham shire, Lawrence soon grew, as he himself said, into "a delicate pale brat with a snuffy nose" who "trotted after his mother like a shadow."

From Time Magazine Archive

And if I were Di, I wouldn’t marry a snuffy old man like that for anybody.

From Lady Maude's Mania by George Manville Fenn

Where the ancient snuffbox, where his snuffy old pocket-handkerchief?

From Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 98, 19 April 1890 by Various

It was not to be doubted that people who had succumbed without a struggle to the snuffy old parish priest with his war-orphans, would put up no resistance to this brilliant onslaught.

From Home Fires in France by Dorothy Canfield

The particular book I wanted was being read by a snuffy old gentleman, seated at the long table in the Department of History.

From A Top-Floor Idyl by George Van Schaick

“My sister-in-law’s guardian is an American artist with eccentric ideas about educating girls to see every phase of life,” said Judy in the stuffiest, snuffiest kind of voice.

From The Claw by Cynthia Stockley

As for the Boston people, they resembled our good townsmen of Tryon County somewhat, though their clothes were of a more elegant cut, and even the snuffiest of them wore lace and buckles.

From Cardigan by Robert W. (Robert William) Chambers

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