as in ornery
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Recent Examples of snarly
The Harsh Glare of Justice Susan B. Glasser on the ex-President’s snarly mug shot from Fulton County Jail.
—
Vinson Cunningham, The New Yorker, 25 Aug. 2023
The band has been marred with decades of fluctuating lineups and snarly lawsuits among band members.
—Rasha Ali, USA TODAY, 22 Dec. 2022
And then the Colonel becomes billionaire Gustav Graves, played by Stephens with a snarly grin and a solar ray.
—Darren Franich, EW.com, 23 Nov. 2022
With a snarly demeanor and vast domed foreheads, they were fashioned from stone and came in pairs — male and female, representing yin and yang — and were also placed at the entrances of temples (and homes) for protection.
—New York Times, 19 Aug. 2021
Then, in addition, scatter 100 bistro sets around the plaza for the season, and perhaps bring in an extra espresso-and-pastries cart or three, and maybe a cocktail bar if the red tape isn’t too snarly.
—Christopher Bonanos, Curbed, 16 Apr. 2021
This even gives the machine the option of trying to evade snarly questions by pretending to be a foreigner, with a limited grasp of local culture and vocabulary.
—IEEE Spectrum, 30 June 2015
Vinson Cunningham, The New Yorker, 25 Aug. 2023
The band has been marred with decades of fluctuating lineups and snarly lawsuits among band members.
—Rasha Ali, USA TODAY, 22 Dec. 2022
And then the Colonel becomes billionaire Gustav Graves, played by Stephens with a snarly grin and a solar ray.
—Darren Franich, EW.com, 23 Nov. 2022
With a snarly demeanor and vast domed foreheads, they were fashioned from stone and came in pairs — male and female, representing yin and yang — and were also placed at the entrances of temples (and homes) for protection.
—New York Times, 19 Aug. 2021
Then, in addition, scatter 100 bistro sets around the plaza for the season, and perhaps bring in an extra espresso-and-pastries cart or three, and maybe a cocktail bar if the red tape isn’t too snarly.
—Christopher Bonanos, Curbed, 16 Apr. 2021
This even gives the machine the option of trying to evade snarly questions by pretending to be a foreigner, with a limited grasp of local culture and vocabulary.
—IEEE Spectrum, 30 June 2015
Recent Examples of Synonyms for snarly
Adjective
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Sometimes he’d be sent out to deal with the more ornery guests in an effort to calm them.—
Stephanie Breijo,
Los Angeles Times,
14 Jan. 2026
-
With its abundance of concrete, startling interior views, and play of deep shadows, the design invokes the ornery inventiveness of Kahn and Paul Rudolph, combined with the corporate sleekness of MoMA’s most recent iterations by Yoshio Taniguchi and Diller Scofidio + Renfro.—
Justin Davidson,
Curbed,
3 Nov. 2025
Adjective
-
Lori Tan Chinn charms as a cantankerous Chinatown grandmother, while Jamie Lee Curtis makes a memorable meal of her single scene as a mob boss.—
Beandrea July,
IndieWire,
28 Jan. 2026
-
Ornery, bizarre, cantankerous, brilliant, talented, stubborn—all characters from our lives.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
16 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
This canonical part has been played by some of the foremost women of the British stage, among them Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, and Edith Evans, who, in Anthony Asquith’s 1952 film adaptation, put a delightfully querulous spin on Lady Bracknell’s most indelible lines.—
Rebecca Mead,
New Yorker,
17 Nov. 2025
-
Trying to Kill Each Other' And Walken is marvelous — querulous, petty, cruel — as the Emperor.—
Tom Gliatto,
Peoplemag,
29 Feb. 2024
Adjective
-
Arrigo, instead, surly and withdrawn as always, mumbled those incomprehensible phrases of his—not that anyone paid him any attention, not even his wife.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
22 Jan. 2026
-
Now 82 years old, Chase comes off as a surly, forgetful man.—
Rick Kogan,
Chicago Tribune,
13 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
Sun shrinking and getting hotter; everything bilious, oxygenless, not great for living.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
3 Nov. 2025
-
Minaj’s bilious flurry is possibly related to claims that she is owed between $100 to 200 million related to her stake in Tidal, the music streaming service launched and spearheaded by Jay-Z in 2015 and was sold to Jack Dorsey’s company Square for $297 million in 2021.—
Andrew Flanagan,
Variety,
15 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
The new movie will chronicle the horrific origin story of Haymitch Abernathy (played by Joseph Zada), the beloved, curmudgeonly alcoholic who served as a reluctant mentor to Katniss and Peeta in the franchise's first four films.—
Mekishana Pierre,
Entertainment Weekly,
11 Dec. 2025
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Anna immediately clocks that Larry, a curmudgeonly old man transported back to his younger self, is in for a tough ride.—
Kathleen Newman-Bremang,
Refinery29,
20 Nov. 2025
Adjective
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On the contrary, Juventus’ football soothed even the most irritable sections of the crowd.—
James Horncastle,
New York Times,
26 Jan. 2026
-
This can include feeling irritable, having a low frustration tolerance, feeling easily overstimulated, and having rapid shifts in emotion.—
Korin Miller,
SELF,
20 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
My favorite movie of the year is a disagreeable but highly entertaining tale as exhausting as today’s politics with characters nobody could possibly root for.—
John Waters,
Vulture,
3 Dec. 2025
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Over the weekend, reports emerged that the higher tariffs followed a disagreeable Thursday phone call between Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter and Trump — which Swiss officials rejected, according to Reuters.—
Sophie Kiderlin,Jenni Reid,
CNBC,
4 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Snarly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/snarly. Accessed 30 Jan. 2026.
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