Thesaurus.com
Dictionary.com
Definitions

snivel

[sniv-uhl] / ˈsnɪv əl /
VERB
complain
Synonyms




Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

And I whine a little bit and moan and snivel, and that works.

From New York Times Jun. 28, 2021

Deny your partner a Facebook or Twitter account if you want, but don't snivel when people are swirling their fingers round their ears at talk of your name.

From The Guardian Jul. 8, 2011

The Yorkshire Post declared: "Drivel and snivel, in days of challenge and strain, may almost be classed as a minor form of Fifth Column activity."

From Time Magazine Archive

Basketball's all-time biggest draw retires to the golf links, the second-rate wannabes he turned into multimillionaires snivel about their economic hardship, and the league still finds ways to fill the tent.

From Time Magazine Archive

I snivel and sniff and give a weak nod.

From "The Queen of Water" by Laura Resau

Zachary Quinto snivels in prime form as the insecure son of Niagara, and Pearce’s screenplay saves some of its sharpest stuff for their less-than-idyllic relationship.

From Los Angeles Times Jun. 8, 2018

Yet another former South Korean President, Lee Myung-bak, was described with “sweats, snivels and tears all over his face.”

From The New Yorker May 14, 2017

Bruno becomes more interesting, she grows less so, and still she snivels at center stage, whining about her bad luck and mistreatment.

From New York Times Mar. 19, 2015

The South that simpers, storms and snivels in these pages moves along a sort of up-to-date Tobacco Road, paved right into town.

From Time Magazine Archive

He snivels and squints into the distance, searching the stony brown hills.

From "Without Refuge" by Jane Mitchell

"You know what, I, I, I, find that ludicrous. But if it's the case, maybe you'll win a Pulitzer for that," he sniveled.

From Salon May 9, 2022

In a surprisingly involved moment, the character cowered and sniveled as the desire for vengeance coursed through me.

From Slate Feb. 23, 2010

He sniveled: "S'elp me, Hi honly done it to sive a few bob t'buy warm clothes for me wife an' child!"

From Time Magazine Archive

But even as the banker sniveled something that made Marlena blanch and stare in horror at her bowl of clam chowder, posters were being slapped up on every surface in town.

From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen

Piggy sniveled and Simon shushed him quickly as though he had spoken too loudly in church.

From "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding

"I didn't realise what I'd done," Tabloid Wayne snivelled to shock Richard Keys and jock Andy Gray in reference to that post-West Ham swearing ballyhoo that folks keep banging on about.

From The Guardian Apr. 13, 2011

At first he snivelled softly, but at last even that died away.

From Ben Pepper by Margaret Sidney

"Oh, you cunning thing!" exclaimed Polly, throwing her arms around him, while Jocko seized her gown and huddled and snivelled into it, getting away from Ben as far as possible.

From Ben Pepper by Margaret Sidney

"I have been guilty of every kind of sin," snivelled the cardinal.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 15, No. 90, April, 1865 by Various

Ichabod evidently did not know “what then,” so he did not say; but snivelled and rubbed one eye with the cuff of the coat he was about to put on.

From A Little World by George Manville Fenn

It would be easier to believe if he hadn’t littered every song with claims that his enemies were omnipresent and all-powerful, while also being sniveling dweebs.

From Salon May 21, 2026

Um, it might be the last debate before the Iowa caucuses — it is worth your time, even if you just stoop to name-calling like, “begone you sniveling weasel.”

From Washington Times Dec. 6, 2023

I’d expect Matthew Macfadyen to repeat as the sniveling Tom Wambsgans, but he could split the vote with the likes of Alexander Skarsgård, Nicholas Braun and possibly others.

From Los Angeles Times May 30, 2023

Its “sounds,” she writes, are those “of the busying and tidying of the quietly controlling. The sniveling and whimpering of the long overlooked, the caterwaul of the brokenhearted.”

From Washington Post Apr. 21, 2020

After a few seconds of me sniveling into her collarbone, I feel her shake her head above me.

From "Odd One Out" by Nic Stone

Nobody – least of all Joaquin Phoenix’s snivelling party entertainer – believed he stood a snowball’s chance in hell.

From The Guardian Sep. 7, 2019

His face is peppered with sand and the dank, snivelling sky has left his sweatshirt decidedly damp and clammy.

From BBC Jan. 29, 2018

When they are named and shamed they diminish in size from terrifying giants to snivelling slugs.

From The Guardian Jun. 28, 2015

It would be hard for Bob to see through that façade to the shy, mousy-haired, snivelling idiot she’d been at fourteen.

From The New Yorker Dec. 12, 2011

It was very quiet again, except for Hooper, snivelling, and the sound of the water.

From "I'm the King of the Castle" by Susan Hill




Vocabulary lists containing snivel


Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Join 12,000,000 vocabulary learners

Start learning new words today on VocabTrainer.
You'll remember them forever.

Start training