1
: a gastropod mollusk especially when having an external enclosing spiral shell
2
: a slow-moving or sluggish person or thing
snailed; snailing; snails
: to move, act, or go slowly or lazily
Synonyms
Examples of snail in a Sentence
Noun
go and tell the snails in the back to hurry up
Verb
the highway construction work created a bottleneck that had cars snailing for the next five miles
Recent Examples on the Web
Lauren Goode Michael Calore, WIRED, 4 Apr. 2024
As for essences, formulations with hyaluronic acid, ceramides, and snail mucin are especially helpful for people with dryness, according to Chang.
—Deanna Pai, Vogue, 13 Mar. 2024
The nature-forward visual — which Smith directed — begins with Smith and two friends strolling in a forest, where the singer finds, and discards, a snail shell before laying on her back in the leaves to begin her Tori Amos-like musings about the mysteries of the universe.
—Gil Kaufman, Billboard, 13 Mar. 2024
The video opens with Willow and two of her friends walking through a forest before finding a snail shell and looking up at the sky.
—Tomás Mier, Rolling Stone, 12 Mar. 2024
The snails live in the waterfall’s mist, but it's estimated that mere dozens remain.
—Jacqueline Keeler, Condé Nast Traveler, 24 Jan. 2024
Dillman’s team collected more than 2,000 snails, and published their findings in the journal Pathogens on March 13.
—Angel Saunders, Peoplemag, 19 Mar. 2024
The snails release schistosomiasis larvae, which can penetrate the skin of any human swimming or bathing in contaminated water and trigger all sorts of nasty health problems (including, rarely but often enough, death).
—Cody Cottier, Discover Magazine, 29 Feb. 2024
Federal wildlife officials have agreed to conduct a full, year-long review to determine whether a tiny snail found only in high-desert springs near a huge lithium mine being built along the Nevada-Oregon line should be listed as a threatened or endangered species.
—Scott Sonner, Fortune, 9 Feb. 2024
Nancy Olson, Forbes, 28 Feb. 2024
Could snail slime and salmon sperm be the next big things in skincare?
—Leslie Baumann, Miami Herald, 26 Jan. 2024
What can snail mucin do for your skin?
—Lacey Muinos, Health, 13 Feb. 2023
Davison and the scientists bred the lefty snails together, and over three years, nearly 15,000 eggs were hatched from four generations of snails, including Jeremy.
—Kristen Rogers, CNN, 2 June 2020
Cathy Jordan may die as this snails its way through the system.
—Dara Kam, Sun-Sentinel.com, 3 July 2018
The investigators found that hungry caterpillars, which usually gorge on tomato leaves, had no appetite for them after the plants were exposed to snail slime and activated their chemical resistance.
—Erica Tennenhouse, Scientific American, 13 Apr. 2018
Payments for premiums still cannot be processed online - people have to snail-mail checks to a CGI processor in Nebraska.
—Lynnley Browning, Newsweek, 6 Feb. 2014
Ten minutes of the second half snailed by without anything more exciting happening than Ryan Bertrand missing a two-yard pass to Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
—SI.com, 5 Oct. 2017
Noun
When TikTok Shop first started, there was snail mucin, which is snail slime for your face.
—Lauren Goode Michael Calore, WIRED, 4 Apr. 2024
As for essences, formulations with hyaluronic acid, ceramides, and snail mucin are especially helpful for people with dryness, according to Chang.
—Deanna Pai, Vogue, 13 Mar. 2024
The nature-forward visual — which Smith directed — begins with Smith and two friends strolling in a forest, where the singer finds, and discards, a snail shell before laying on her back in the leaves to begin her Tori Amos-like musings about the mysteries of the universe.
—Gil Kaufman, Billboard, 13 Mar. 2024
The video opens with Willow and two of her friends walking through a forest before finding a snail shell and looking up at the sky.
—Tomás Mier, Rolling Stone, 12 Mar. 2024
The snails live in the waterfall’s mist, but it's estimated that mere dozens remain.
—Jacqueline Keeler, Condé Nast Traveler, 24 Jan. 2024
Dillman’s team collected more than 2,000 snails, and published their findings in the journal Pathogens on March 13.
—Angel Saunders, Peoplemag, 19 Mar. 2024
The snails release schistosomiasis larvae, which can penetrate the skin of any human swimming or bathing in contaminated water and trigger all sorts of nasty health problems (including, rarely but often enough, death).
—Cody Cottier, Discover Magazine, 29 Feb. 2024
Federal wildlife officials have agreed to conduct a full, year-long review to determine whether a tiny snail found only in high-desert springs near a huge lithium mine being built along the Nevada-Oregon line should be listed as a threatened or endangered species.
—Scott Sonner, Fortune, 9 Feb. 2024
Verb
Movement components reveal classical decoration, including Côtes de Genève, beveling, and snailing.
—Nancy Olson, Forbes, 28 Feb. 2024
Could snail slime and salmon sperm be the next big things in skincare?
—Leslie Baumann, Miami Herald, 26 Jan. 2024
What can snail mucin do for your skin?
—Lacey Muinos, Health, 13 Feb. 2023
Davison and the scientists bred the lefty snails together, and over three years, nearly 15,000 eggs were hatched from four generations of snails, including Jeremy.
—Kristen Rogers, CNN, 2 June 2020
Cathy Jordan may die as this snails its way through the system.
—Dara Kam, Sun-Sentinel.com, 3 July 2018
The investigators found that hungry caterpillars, which usually gorge on tomato leaves, had no appetite for them after the plants were exposed to snail slime and activated their chemical resistance.
—Erica Tennenhouse, Scientific American, 13 Apr. 2018
Payments for premiums still cannot be processed online - people have to snail-mail checks to a CGI processor in Nebraska.
—Lynnley Browning, Newsweek, 6 Feb. 2014
Ten minutes of the second half snailed by without anything more exciting happening than Ryan Bertrand missing a two-yard pass to Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
—SI.com, 5 Oct. 2017
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'snail.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near snail
Cite this Entry
“Snail.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/snail. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationMedical Definition
snail
noun
: any of various gastropod mollusks and especially those having an external enclosing spiral shell including some which are important in medicine as intermediate hosts of trematodes
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share