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Glite Dictionary
🗯️ To speak angrily 😠 To growl 😠 An angry sound 🪢 To tangle 🪢 A tangled problem
to snarl

to snarl

15 5.0
To make a low, harsh sound like an angry animal
  • verb
  • /snɑrl/
translation icon : gruñir
  • The raptor's head bursts through a panel behind them, leaping up at them, snarling and snapping.
  • a dog snarled

Examples

  • As he approached the angry dog, it snarled loudly to warn him to stay away.

  • If you can get him to growl and snarl and spin his head around I'll give you a hundred bucks.

    Confession (2020)

  • As if that sound were a cue, six more dogs scrambled, snarling, out of the door.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • We could definitely hear the feasting, snarling, growling, and fighting over the kill.

    Academic text (1999)

  • "The gods help you if I catch you in the open," Rikash snarled, flapping his wings.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • An enormous black dog snarled up at her, his lips drawn back to show large yellowed fangs.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • The dogs saw them first, running out, yapping, growling, snarling, their hair stiff and menacing.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • Suddenly, the baboon snarled, and Bokatu and Enkatai turned to locate the source of his anger.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • The dog began to snarl when it felt threatened by the stranger.

  • The lion snarled fiercely, showing its sharp teeth as a warning to intruders.

Synonyms

to growl
vsto snarl
76 2.2

To make a low, deep sound to warn or show anger

focuses more on aggressive noise and includes moving while making it
to grrrr
vsto snarl
9.9

To make a low growling sound to show anger or annoyance

is a real harsh animal sound rather than a playful imitation

Antonyms

to coo
3 5.5

To make a soft low sound to show affection

Phrasal Verbs

to snarl up
  • UK
1 7.8

Make things tangled or blocked so progress slows

Compounds

snarl-up
  • UK
7.2

A traffic jam where cars block each other and cannot move

How Threatening

to roar
31 2.7
to snarl
15 5.0
to growl
76 2.2
to bark
109 1.0
to whimper
69 3.3

Surface Forms

snarl infinitive
snarled past
snarled past participle
snarling present participle
snarls third person singular

Etymology

Snarl as a verb likely began as people copying the rough sound animals make, a kind of 'growl'. That's why to snarl is to make a low, harsh sound showing anger or threat.