variants or less commonly snakey
1
: of, formed of, or entwined with snakes
the Gorgon with snaky hairJoseph Addison
2
: serpentine, snakelike
snaky coils
3
: suggestive of a snake
the oiliness and snaky insinuation of his demeanorThomas DeQuincy
4
: abounding in snakes
snakily adverb

Examples of snaky in a Sentence

His hair was long and snaky.
Recent Examples on the Web By 2018, Wong had learned three important tricks: sowing his landscapes with small figures to provide a sense of scale; using snaky diagonal forms (rivers, roads) to separate near from far; tempering layers of warm colors with cool ones. Jackson Arn, The New Yorker, 4 Sep. 2023 The film features some very snaky tracking shots. J. Kim Murphy, Variety, 25 Aug. 2022 Lean, mean and enlivened by the filmmakers’ love letter to both Hitchcock and Brian De Palma, this HBO Max premiere riffs knowingly on Rear Window and Blow Out in the age of virtual assistants, all-seeing algorithms, invasive surveillance and snaky tech magnates. David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 9 Feb. 2022 Our lugubrious snaky sound. Daniel Kreps, Rolling Stone, 7 June 2021 Ray Liotta, in his final screen performance, plays the drug honcho in greasy long hair and imposes his snaky menace. Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 23 Feb. 2023 On snaky Mulholland Highway and neighboring canyon-clinging roads in LA and Ventura counties that included some tight curves that lived up to their 15-mph posted speed. Mark Phelan, Detroit Free Press, 30 Nov. 2021 Hagfish, also called slime eels, can free themselves of their own mucus by tying their snaky bodies in a knot and scraping it off. Elizabeth Preston, Discover Magazine, 29 Mar. 2018 Make sure all the snaky cables coming out of the power supply will reach your motherboard with room to spare. Jaina Grey Louryn Strampe, WIRED, 4 Nov. 2022

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'snaky.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1567, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of snaky was in 1567

Dictionary Entries Near snaky

Cite this Entry

“Snaky.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/snaky. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

snaky

adjective
variants also snakey
1
: of or resembling a snake
2
: full of snakes
snakily adverb

More from Merriam-Webster on snaky

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