snarled; snarling; snarls
1
: to cause to become knotted and intertwined : tangle
2
: to make excessively complicated
: to become snarled
1
: a tangle especially of hairs or thread : knot
2
: a tangled situation
traffic snarls
snarled; snarling; snarls
1
: to growl with a snapping, gnashing, or display of teeth
2
: to give vent to anger in surly language
: to utter or express with a snarl or by snarling
Synonyms
Verb (1)
Noun (1)
Verb (2)
Examples of snarl in a Sentence
Verb (1)
you'll be awfully sorry if you snarl your fishing line
Noun (1)
to no avail, the city promotes carpooling to help ease the traffic snarls that always accompany rush hour
Verb (2)
she snarled at me after I kept badgering her with questions
Recent Examples on the Web
Sarah Nelson, The Indianapolis Star, 25 Mar. 2024
Israel-Hamas war protesters, attendees with red lapel pins make their statements at the Academy Awards
Just as the Oscars red carpet was opening, protesters rallied for a Gaza cease-fire and snarled traffic near the Dolby Theatre, site of the Academy Awards.
—Brian Truitt, USA TODAY, 11 Mar. 2024
Having set the hounds loose, Abiy now faced their snarling jaws.
—Alex De Waal, Foreign Affairs, 8 Apr. 2024
Biden made his comments after an aerial tour of the bridge, which was struck by a cargo ship on March 26, snarling ship and vehicle traffic for the busy port of Baltimore.
—Franco Ordoñez, NPR, 5 Apr. 2024
More:The April total solar eclipse could snarl traffic for hours across thousands of miles
When a total solar eclipse passed over the U.S. in 2017, reports say some traffic jams didn't fully clear for more than 12 hours in some areas.
—Doyle Rice, USA TODAY, 28 Mar. 2024
This year, officials said six whale entanglements have been confirmed, and a dead Pacific leatherback sea turtle that got snarled in old gear from a previous year was discovered off the Farallon Islands on Nov. 24.
—Linda Zavoral, The Mercury News, 28 Mar. 2024
Concern swelled about how traffic would snarl elsewhere in the state.
—Krystal Hur, CNN, 28 Mar. 2024
The container ship that stuck the Key bridge around 1:40 a.m. Tuesday remained snarled in the span’s twisted wreckage, blocking the sole channel that connects the Port of Baltimore to the Atlantic Ocean.
—David J. Lynch, Washington Post, 26 Mar. 2024
Aimee Picchi, CBS News, 3 May 2024
The snarl of a chainsaw never sounds sweeter than when slicing through the trunk of a nasty Bradford pear (Pyrus calleryana).
—Steve Bender, Southern Living, 3 May 2024
Early 2021: Shipping snarls and worker shortages from the coronavirus pandemic continue to hurt supply.
—Trefis Team, Forbes, 14 Feb. 2024
The interaction of reopening economies with the supply-chain snarls the pandemic had set off caused a burst higher in prices that wouldn’t last.
—Justin Lahart, WSJ, 4 Jan. 2024
Construction industry snarls over the past decade have resulted in an annual shortage of more than 700,000 construction workers nationwide, according to a report from the Home Builders Institute.
—Danny Nguyen, Washington Post, 10 Apr. 2024
With Miller’s typically clever wordplay and the right mix of tangy twang and class-A amplifier snarl, the quartet have spent the years since expanding their sound to include roots rock, rockabilly, garage, and other typically raw variations-on-a-theme on nearly two dozen long players.
—Kory Grow, Rolling Stone, 3 Apr. 2024
As for 2024, inflation and supply chain snarls could continue being in the backdrop, but Inditex is already seeing a boost in shopping.
—Prarthana Prakash, Fortune Europe, 15 Mar. 2024
The supply chain snarls that followed the pandemic have been mostly unsnarled.
—Francisco Velasquez, Quartz, 18 Mar. 2024
Verb
State Police anticipate traffic will snarl before, during and after the event, which will occur April 8.
—Sarah Nelson, The Indianapolis Star, 25 Mar. 2024
Israel-Hamas war protesters, attendees with red lapel pins make their statements at the Academy Awards
Just as the Oscars red carpet was opening, protesters rallied for a Gaza cease-fire and snarled traffic near the Dolby Theatre, site of the Academy Awards.
—Brian Truitt, USA TODAY, 11 Mar. 2024
Having set the hounds loose, Abiy now faced their snarling jaws.
—Alex De Waal, Foreign Affairs, 8 Apr. 2024
Biden made his comments after an aerial tour of the bridge, which was struck by a cargo ship on March 26, snarling ship and vehicle traffic for the busy port of Baltimore.
—Franco Ordoñez, NPR, 5 Apr. 2024
More:The April total solar eclipse could snarl traffic for hours across thousands of miles
When a total solar eclipse passed over the U.S. in 2017, reports say some traffic jams didn't fully clear for more than 12 hours in some areas.
—Doyle Rice, USA TODAY, 28 Mar. 2024
This year, officials said six whale entanglements have been confirmed, and a dead Pacific leatherback sea turtle that got snarled in old gear from a previous year was discovered off the Farallon Islands on Nov. 24.
—Linda Zavoral, The Mercury News, 28 Mar. 2024
Concern swelled about how traffic would snarl elsewhere in the state.
—Krystal Hur, CNN, 28 Mar. 2024
The container ship that stuck the Key bridge around 1:40 a.m. Tuesday remained snarled in the span’s twisted wreckage, blocking the sole channel that connects the Port of Baltimore to the Atlantic Ocean.
—David J. Lynch, Washington Post, 26 Mar. 2024
Noun
The idea behind the new funding was to help revive an agency whose ranks have been depleted over the years, leading to customer service snarls, processing delays and a falloff in audit rates.
—Aimee Picchi, CBS News, 3 May 2024
The snarl of a chainsaw never sounds sweeter than when slicing through the trunk of a nasty Bradford pear (Pyrus calleryana).
—Steve Bender, Southern Living, 3 May 2024
Early 2021: Shipping snarls and worker shortages from the coronavirus pandemic continue to hurt supply.
—Trefis Team, Forbes, 14 Feb. 2024
The interaction of reopening economies with the supply-chain snarls the pandemic had set off caused a burst higher in prices that wouldn’t last.
—Justin Lahart, WSJ, 4 Jan. 2024
Construction industry snarls over the past decade have resulted in an annual shortage of more than 700,000 construction workers nationwide, according to a report from the Home Builders Institute.
—Danny Nguyen, Washington Post, 10 Apr. 2024
With Miller’s typically clever wordplay and the right mix of tangy twang and class-A amplifier snarl, the quartet have spent the years since expanding their sound to include roots rock, rockabilly, garage, and other typically raw variations-on-a-theme on nearly two dozen long players.
—Kory Grow, Rolling Stone, 3 Apr. 2024
As for 2024, inflation and supply chain snarls could continue being in the backdrop, but Inditex is already seeing a boost in shopping.
—Prarthana Prakash, Fortune Europe, 15 Mar. 2024
The supply chain snarls that followed the pandemic have been mostly unsnarled.
—Francisco Velasquez, Quartz, 18 Mar. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'snarl.' 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 snarl
Cite this Entry
“Snarl.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/snarl. Accessed 14 May. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
snarl
1 of 4 noun1
: a tangle especially of hairs or thread : knot
2
: a tangled situation
a traffic snarl
snarl
2 of 4 verb
: to get into a tangle
snarl
3 of 4 verb1
: to growl with a snapping or showing of teeth
2
: to speak in an angry way
3
: to utter with a snarl
snarler
noun
snarl
4 of 4 noun
: an angry growl
Etymology
Noun
Middle English snarle "snare, noose," probably from snarlen "to trap, entangle"
Verb
from obsolete snar "to growl"
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share