snail 1 of 2

snail

2 of 2

verb

as in to drag
to move slowly the highway construction work created a bottleneck that had cars snailing for the next five miles

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of snail
Noun
Golden apple snails can completely regrow their eyes—and those eyes share many anatomical and genetic features with human eyes, according to a paper published in the journal Nature Communications. ArsTechnica, 31 Aug. 2025 Clarkson was aware of this rare asymmetry in snails from her work with the magazine New Zealand Geographic. Angus Watson, CNN Money, 28 Aug. 2025
Verb
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 See All Example Sentences for snail
Recent Examples of Synonyms for snail
Noun
  • Lack of slug may end up haunting them in the postseason.
    Kevin Acee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 9 Sep. 2025
  • Place a piece of 6 x 6-inch piece of cardboard or thin plywood on the garden surface to attract slugs, then check under it every morning.
    Arricca Elin SanSone, Southern Living, 28 Aug. 2025
Verb
  • This is not about dragging NATO into war.
    David A. Deptula, Forbes.com, 10 Sep. 2025
  • After being struck from behind, he was dragged to the ground and mauled him, with other lions joined in, per Khaosod English.
    Escher Walcott, PEOPLE, 10 Sep. 2025
Noun
  • Leading Internet companies and publishers—including Reddit, Yahoo, Quora, Medium, The Daily Beast, Fastly, and more—think there may finally be a solution to end AI crawlers hammering websites to scrape content without permission or compensation.
    Ashley Belanger, ArsTechnica, 10 Sep. 2025
  • This may yield additional, creepier, and crawler results.
    Hallie Milstein, Southern Living, 2 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • And to get there, visitors will have to make their way through scare zones brimming with crawling monsters and roaring chainsaws.
    Charlotte Observer, Charlotte Observer, 11 Sep. 2025
  • Insects crawled through clinical areas, and staff food was stored alongside medical supplies.
    Walter Pavlo, Forbes.com, 10 Sep. 2025
Noun
  • Retired or not, the world’s greatest quarterback does not have the luxury to indulge in sequential action—one thing at a time is for slowpokes and losers.
    Vinson Cunningham, The New Yorker, 25 Jan. 2025
  • One group of 15 female rats, brighter in color than the rest, kept zooming past the others to make it into the houses first, making the rest of their furry colleagues look like slowpokes.
    Laura Bradley, Vulture, 17 Jan. 2025
Verb
  • The jobs report from July shattered the narrative that the economy of 2025 was strong, revising previous figures downward and revealing something close to an 80% collapse in hiring, even as inflation crept upwards and layoffs rolled.
    Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 8 Sep. 2025
  • Most bills still require 60 votes to creep forward, and there are no signs of that level of Senate support for so clearly defying Trump.
    Philip Elliott, Time, 8 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • Stars not just in front of, but within the dusty nebula, poke through all but the densest gas.
    Ethan Siegel, Big Think, 8 Sep. 2025
  • In July 2024, Thompson's daughter Gaia shared a cheeky post on her Instagram Stories poking fun at 2023's Barbie movie's tagline — and Thompson's ex, Kenneth Branagh.
    Hannah Sacks, PEOPLE, 8 Sep. 2025
Noun
  • One notable laggard, however, is Boeing .
    Paulina Likos, CNBC, 12 Sep. 2025
  • The gap between leaders and laggards is growing fast.
    Kevin Pierce, Forbes.com, 11 Sep. 2025

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Snail.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/snail. Accessed 15 Sep. 2025.

More from Merriam-Webster on snail

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!