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
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
Jeremy Kahn, Fortune, 11 Jan. 2026
The Covid pandemic snarled airplane assembly at both Boeing and its chief rival, Airbus, with supply chain delays and loss of experienced workers, even after the worst of the health crisis subsided.
—Leslie Josephs, CNBC, 11 Jan. 2026
Adam Gopnik, New Yorker, 12 Jan. 2026
Despite headwinds like tariffs, supply chain snarls and higher costs for solar panels and other components, Fishman said, the initiative is having an impact.
—Sacbee.com, 9 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for snarl
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Verb
There was a febrile atmosphere in Caracas that winter, with long lines of cars waiting for gas snarling city streets and raising tempers, while the constant prospect of violence hung over the daily demonstrations.
—Noun
Zohran Mamdani’s genial grin would have seemed unsustainably mild in the angry eighties, when Koch’s sarcasm fenced with Giuliani’s snarl, occasionally relieved by Mario Cuomo’s solemnity.
—Cite this Entry
“Snarl.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/snarl. Accessed 20 Jan. 2026.
Kids 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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