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
Louis Menand, The New Yorker, 13 Jan. 2025
Winter storm in Southeast causes flight cancellations A winter storm bringing a mix of snow and ice to the Southeast is snarling air travel this morning.
—Betty Lin-Fisher, USA TODAY, 10 Jan. 2025
Chris Snellgrove, EW.com, 22 Dec. 2024
One approach, adopted by Lynda Benglis, Urs Fischer, and Christopher Wool, involves digitally capturing a chance form—a squeeze of clay, a snarl of wire—then enlarging that scan to monumental proportions, both dramatizing and satirizing the superpowers that artists now have at their disposal.
—Glenn Adamson, ARTnews.com, 16 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for snarl 
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Verb
The bandit wheeled and snarled at Herod, exposing his rotting front teeth.
—Louis Menand, The New Yorker, 13 Jan. 2025
Winter storm in Southeast causes flight cancellations A winter storm bringing a mix of snow and ice to the Southeast is snarling air travel this morning.
—Betty Lin-Fisher, USA TODAY, 10 Jan. 2025
Noun
Monsters snarl, roar, and go bump in the night, but the racist humans Atticus encounters are just as monstrous, and the contrast works.
—Chris Snellgrove, EW.com, 22 Dec. 2024
One approach, adopted by Lynda Benglis, Urs Fischer, and Christopher Wool, involves digitally capturing a chance form—a squeeze of clay, a snarl of wire—then enlarging that scan to monumental proportions, both dramatizing and satirizing the superpowers that artists now have at their disposal.
—Glenn Adamson, ARTnews.com, 16 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for snarl
Dictionary Entries Near snarl
Cite this Entry
“Snarl.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/snarl. Accessed 20 Jan. 2025.
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"
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