gnarlier; gnarliest
1
: gnarled
gnarly branches
2
slang : very bad: such as
a
: very difficult or challenging to deal with
a gnarly [=thorny, knotty] problem
gnarly conditions
Having … skidded around gnarly hairpin turns … , the two bikers pedaled furiously for the finish.Austin Murphy
b
: nasty, unpleasant
"This guy has some pretty gnarly karma coming …"Drew Barrymore
c
: arousing disgust or distaste : gross
A cute toe polish can't save gnarly, callused soles.Jessica R. White
" … It'll be kind of a gruesome death. You know, its fur will start falling out, it'll develop gnarly sores all over its body. … "David Randall
3
slang : cool, excellent
After initially wiping out on the left wave, [Filipe] Toledo responded with a gnarly air reverse on the right and was rewarded with a 9.27.Hanford Sentinel
especially : having a pleasingly or impressively rugged or rough quality
He played in the NFL, but then got bored with football and became a FBI agent. He was a gnarly dude. Reece Kelley Graham
And yet [Mark] Knopfler built a reputation as an intensely creative virtuoso (not to mention an ace songwriter), showing remarkable command over a range of tones and textures—from the gnarly distortion on hit single "Money for Nothing" to the stinging precision of "Tunnel of Love." Rolling Stone

Examples of gnarly in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web That threatens to initiate a gnarly feedback loop of warming. Matt Simon, WIRED, 12 Jan. 2024 However, Lopez didn’t let his gnarly appearance get in the way of his television gig later on in the day. Michelle Lee, Peoplemag, 6 Dec. 2023 The Arctic is today warming up to four times faster than the rest of the planet due in part to gnarly feedback loops: Ice melts, which exposes darker water or land underneath, which heats up faster, which leads to more warming and more melting. Matt Simon, WIRED, 29 Nov. 2023 While commuting to other, similarly aseptic indoor spaces—co-working offices, movie theaters, friends’ apartments—I’ll skirt around pigeons, avert my eyes from a gnarly rat, shudder at the odd scuttling cockroach. Hannah Seo, The Atlantic, 13 Nov. 2023 The creators of Watch Night are hardly the first to go up against such gnarly subject matter and end up in a bit of a mess. Sara Holdren, Vulture, 8 Nov. 2023 Leonardo DiCaprio made sure to have protection for one gnarly sequence in his new movie. Tommy McArdle, Peoplemag, 26 Oct. 2023 They were made into the shape of gnarly, knobby, sometimes grotesque … fingers. Emily Heil, Washington Post, 24 Oct. 2023 Some of these images look like studies of works in progress, including a series featuring her dog’s gnarly, mummy-wrap cast: detritus as sculpture. Vince Aletti, The New Yorker, 22 Oct. 2023 See More

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

Word History

Etymology

see gnarled

First Known Use

1760, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of gnarly was in 1760

Dictionary Entries Near gnarly

Cite this Entry

“Gnarly.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gnarly. Accessed 27 Jan. 2024.

More from Merriam-Webster on gnarly

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!