snarl

• IPA^(key): /ˈsnɑː(ɹ)l/

• Audio (Southern England)

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• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)l

From Middle English snarlen, frequentative of snaren (“to trap, tangle”). Equivalent to snare +‎ -le.

snarl (third-person singular simple present snarls, present participle snarling, simple past and past participle snarled)

1. (transitive) To entangle; to complicate; to involve in knots.

   to snarl a skein of thread

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 17:

     And from her backe her garments she did teare, / And from her head oft rent her snarled heare […]

2. (intransitive) To become entangled.
3. (transitive) To place in an embarrassing situation; to ensnare; to make overly complicated.
   • November 9, 1550, Hugh Latimer, Sermon Preached at Stanford

     [the] question that they would have snarled him with

4. (transitive, intransitive) To be congested in traffic, or to make traffic congested.
5. To form raised work upon the outer surface of (thin metal ware) by the repercussion of a snarling iron upon the inner surface; to repoussé

• ensnarl
• snarl up, snarl-up
• snarling iron
• unsnarl

snarl (plural snarls)

1. A knot or complication of hair, thread, or the like, difficult to disentangle.

   Synonym: entanglement

2. An intricate complication; a problematic difficulty; a knotty or tangled situation.

   Synonym: imbroglio

3. A slow-moving traffic jam.
   • 2019 November 21, Samanth Subramanian, “How our home delivery habit reshaped the world”, in The Guardian‎:

     The biggest cities feel the most acute impact of the last mile – of the squads of trucks and vans, the parcel hubs and sorting centres, the parking snarls and the discarded boxes.

Frequentative of earlier snar (“to growl”), perhaps from Middle Low German snorren (“to drone”), of probably imitative origin. Equivalent to snar +‎ -le. Related to German schnarren (“to rattle”) and schnurren (“to hum, buzz”).

snarl (third-person singular simple present snarls, present participle snarling, simple past and past participle snarled)

1. (intransitive) To growl angrily by gnashing or baring the teeth; to gnarl; to utter grumbling sounds.
2. (transitive) To complain angrily; to utter growlingly.
3. (intransitive) To speak crossly; to talk in rude, surly terms.
   • 1697, John Dryden, “Preface to the Pastorals, with a Short Defence of Virgil, against Some of the Reflections of Monsieur Fontanelle [i.e., Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle]”, in Virgil, translated by John Dryden, The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:

     It is malicious and unmanly to snarl at the little lapses of a pen, from which Virgil himself stands not exempted.

• snarling
• snarlingly

snarl (plural snarls)

A sphynx snarls at a dog.

1. The act of snarling; a growl; a surly or peevish expression; an angry contention.
2. A growl, for example that of an angry or surly dog, or similar; grumbling sounds.
3. A squabble.

• snarl word

• “snarl”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “snarl”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “snarl”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “snarl”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
• “snarl”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

• larns

Back-formation from snarla.

• IPA^(key): /s(t)nartl/
• Rhymes: -artl

snarl n (genitive singular snarls, no plural)

1. snack (light meal)

• snakk

• snarle

Either from snare +‎ -el or a back-formation from snarlen.

• IPA^(key): /snarl/

snarl (plural snarles) (rare)

1. A trap for catching animals.
2. A noose or snare (rope loop)
3. (figuratively) A temptation or peril.

• English: snarl
• Scots: snarl

• “snarl(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.