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Glite Dictionary
🤧 A nose sound 🤧 To breathe noisily
to sniffle

to sniffle

18 2.3
To breathe noisily through the nose, often because of a cold or crying
  • verb
  • /ˈsnɪfəl/
translation icon : lloriquear
  • The child sniffled gently, wiping his nose with a tissue after catching a cold.
  • sniffle and cry
  • sniffling and sobbing
  • sniffling back tears

She can't be in the recording studio because she sniffles and sneezes.

Examples

  • "That's why I ran," she mumbled, sniffling at the tears she wouldn't let him see.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • Gradually, they descended from their rooms, many coughing and sniffling despite the summer heat.

    Academic text (2002)

  • Are you O.K.?" and I just sniffle and say, "I want to go home."

    Fiction book (1996)

  • But yeah, if you don't like people that sniffle, then get out right now.

  • Suddenly, he began to sniffle, to whimper, and to cry, holding his eyes closed.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • "Jesus, can you do nothing right?" The boy held her head close to his chest, sniffling.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • "I do miss him so," she said and sniffled as she eyed his place at the dinner table.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • My mother was sitting in the den, sniffling into a wad of Kleenex, watching the latest election news coverage.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • When the personal storm was over, Jacy sniffled, tilted her head back, and closed her puffy eyes.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • Toby's eyes flare up, then he lowers his head, biting his lip, sniffling a bit.

    Fiction book (1993)

Synonyms

to sniff
vsto sniffle
266 1.0

To breathe in through the nose to smell something or because of a cold

is specifically noisy and repeated from illness or crying rather than for smelling
to snuffle
vsto sniffle
1 6.2

To breathe loudly through a blocked nose because of a cold or crying

is repeated noisy breathing not limited to blocked nasal congestion
to sniffles
vsto sniffle
2.8

To take small breaths in through the nose, often when sad or having a cold

is louder and more forceful rather than small quiet inhalations
to snivel
vsto sniffle
8.1

To draw mucus up through the nose quietly

is noisier and more outward, not the quiet mucus drawing action

How Noisy

to sneeze
66 1.0
to snort
52 3.7
to sniffle
18 2.3

Surface Forms

sniffle infinitive
sniffled past
sniffled past participle
sniffling present participle
sniffles third person singular

Morphology

sniffle = sniff (transparent) = sniff + le

The word is built from the familiar base 'sniff' plus a verbal suffix, and the meaning 'sniff repeatedly' is readily recoverable.

Etymology

The word sniffle comes from the sound sniff ('a short nose sound') plus the little ending -le that gives the idea of a small, repeated action. That's why to sniffle is to breathe with small noisy sniffs, usually because you are sick or sad.