Definition of SNIVEL

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Verb

There's never been anything pretty about sniveling. Snivel, which originally meant simply "to have a runny nose," was probably snyflan in Old English. It's likely related to sniffle, not surprisingly, and also to an Old English word for mucus, snofl. It's even related to the Middle Dutch word for a cold, snof, and the Old Norse word for snout, which is snoppa. There's also a connection to nan, a Greek verb meaning "flow." Nowadays, we mostly use snivel, as we have since the 1600s, to refer to self-pitying whining, whether or not such sniveling is accompanied by unchecked nasal flow.

Examples of snivel in a Sentence

Verb

millionaires sniveling about their financial problems “Woe is me,” she sniveled.

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb

Disappointment is running high after Sunday’s Game of Thrones finale and chief among fan grievances is the fact that a sniveling young white boy who often did the least—that would be Bran—ascended to the (now-defunct) Iron Throne. — Michelle Ruiz, Vogue, "A Little White Man Is King on Game of Thrones? Groundbreaking.," 20 May 2019 Its a shame that England's first ever World Cup title had this pathetic, snivelling creature associated with it, and it could be said that the Three Lions' failings at international level ever since lie solely at the feet of World Cup Willie. — SI.com, "World Cup Countdown: 3 Days to Go - Ranking Every World Cup Mascot by How 'Hard' They Are," 11 June 2018 And dim Jim is somewhat of the sniveling little schnauzer of the White House press corps. — Fox News, "Nunes and Meadows call for release of FBI text messages," 25 Apr. 2018 Those sniveling toads are too afraid of losing the electoral support of Trump and his minions. — GQ, "ESPN Fed Jemele Hill to the Wolves," 11 Oct. 2017 Meanwhile, standup white cop Denny Rakestraw must deal with a sniveling brother-in-law Klansman and a racist wife. — Lloyd Sachs, chicagotribune.com, "Attica Locke's 'Bluebird, Bluebird' soars, plus more crime fiction reviews," 25 Sep. 2017 On Sunday we were reintroduced to the Hilltop, a place of relative plenty — including lots of food, an obstetrician and apparently a big ol’ tractor — overseen by a sniveling degenerate named Gregory. — Jeremy Egner, New York Times, "‘The Walking Dead’ Season 7, Episode 5: Maggie Takes Charge," 20 Nov. 2016

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'snivel.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.