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

Etymology

Origin of snuffy

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

Example Sentences

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

"Strange enough, sir, that the paragraphs here have not convinced you," said Heffernan, taking up the newspaper which lay on the table, and where the mark of snuffy fingers denoted the very passage in question.

From The Knight Of Gwynne, Vol. I (of II) by Lever, Charles James

He was neither snuffy nor yet very old, but that is the way I felt toward him.

From Deep Moat Grange by Crockett, S. R. (Samuel Rutherford)

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 Van Schaick, George

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

From Lady Maude's Mania by Fenn, George Manville