different between snarl vs snark

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?sn??(?)l/
• Rhymes: -??(r)l

Etymology 1

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

Verb

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
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.

Derived terms

• ensnarl
• unsnarl

Translations

Noun

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.
3. A slow-moving traffic jam.

Synonyms

• (entangled situation): imbroglio

Translations

Etymology 2

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”).

Verb

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.

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

Derived terms

• snarling
• snarlingly

Translations

Noun

snarl (plural snarls)

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.

Derived terms

• snarl word

Translations

Further reading

• snarl in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• snarl in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• snarl at OneLook Dictionary Search
• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “snarl”, in Online Etymology Dictionary
• “snarl”, in Merriam–Webster Online Dictionary, (Please provide a date or year).

Anagrams

• larns

Icelandic

Etymology

Back-formation from snarla.

Pronunciation

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

Noun

snarl n (genitive singular snarls, no plural)

1. snack (light meal)

Declension

See also

• snakk

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: snärk, IPA^(key): /sn??(?)k/
• Rhymes: -??(r)k

Etymology 1

Noun sense “snide remark” as back-formation from snarky (1906), from obsolete snark (“to snore, snort”, verb) (1866), from Middle English snarken (“to snore”). Compare Low German snarken, North Frisian snarke, Swedish snarka, and English snort, and snore.

Noun

snark (uncountable)

1. Snide remarks or attitude.

   Synonyms: sarcasm, snideness

   • 2010, David Denby, Snark, Pan Macmillan (?ISBN), page 4:

     Snark will get you any way it can, fore and aft, and to hell with consistency. In a media society, snark is an easy way of seeming smart. […] Snark doesn't create a new image, a new idea. It's parasitic, referential, insinuating.

Related terms

• snarkiness
• snarky

Verb

snark (third-person singular simple present snarks, present participle snarking, simple past and past participle snarked)

1. To express oneself in a snarky fashion.
2. (obsolete) To snort.

Derived terms

• snarker

Etymology 2

From Snark, coined by Lewis Carroll as a nonce word in The Hunting of the Snark (1874), about the quest for an elusive creature. In sense of “a type of mathematical graph”, named as such in 1976 by Martin Gardner for their elusiveness.

Noun

snark (plural snarks)

1. (mathematics) A graph in which every node has three branches, and the edges cannot be coloured in fewer than four colours without two edges of the same colour meeting at a point.
2. (physics) A fluke or unrepeatable result or detection in an experiment.

Further reading

• snark on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Snark (Lewis Carroll) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “snark”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.
• snark at OneLook Dictionary Search

References

Anagrams

• ARNKs, Karns, Kršan, K???a, karns, knars, krans, narks, ranks, skarn

Icelandic

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /stnar?k/
• Rhymes: -ar?k

Noun

snark n (genitive singular snarks, no plural)

1. crackle (of a fire)

Declension

Related terms

• snarka (“to crackle”)

Westrobothnian

Etymology

From snórk. Cognate with Smalandian snarke m, Helsingian snárse, snarkse m, snarka f, Norwegian snerkje m.

Noun

snark m (nominative & accusative definite singular snarken)

1. Skin, wrinkled skin-film which forms on porridge and gruel.
2. Cream.

Alternative forms

• sn?rk