1
: a gastropod mollusk especially when having an external enclosing spiral shell
2
: a slow-moving or sluggish person or thing
snailed; snailing; snails
: to move, act, or go slowly or lazily
Synonyms
Examples of snail in a Sentence
Noun
go and tell the snails in the back to hurry up
Verb
the highway construction work created a bottleneck that had cars snailing for the next five miles
Recent Examples on the Web
USA TODAY, 10 Apr. 2024
People are still feeling the sting from not being able to build wealth as much, as productivity increased and average worker pay moved at a relative snail’s pace.
—Chloe Berger, Fortune, 6 Apr. 2024
See all Example Sentences for snail 
Noun
Rossi says the main benefit of snail mucin is a boost in hydration to the skin.
—USA TODAY, 10 Apr. 2024
People are still feeling the sting from not being able to build wealth as much, as productivity increased and average worker pay moved at a relative snail’s pace.
—Chloe Berger, Fortune, 6 Apr. 2024
See all Example Sentences for snail
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'snail.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near snail
Cite this Entry
“Snail.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/snail. Accessed 4 May. 2024.
Copy CitationMedical Definition
snail
noun
: any of various gastropod mollusks and especially those having an external enclosing spiral shell including some which are important in medicine as intermediate hosts of trematodes
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