Snarky
adj, slang ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 Snide and sarcastic; usually out of irritation. humorous, informal, often
"In spite of its inherent banality, and because my editors let me relieve my dyspepsia by writing snarky captions, it is regularly one of the more popular destinations on the Globe and Mail website."
- 2 Irritable, irritated. obsolete
"'I hate you,' she said briefly, and Philip understood. 'I couldn't help it,' he said; 'I did want to do something by myself.' And Lucy understood. 'And besides,' he said, 'I was coming back for you. Don't be snarky about it, Lu."
- 1 disdainfully or ironically humorous; scornful and mocking wordnet
Example
More examples"Keep your snarky comments to yourself."
Etymology
From snark + -y; 1906, as “irritable”, from snark (“to snort”), by onomatopoeia (1866). Compare Low German snarken (“to snore”), North Frisian snarke, Swedish snarka. In the sense “sarcastic” popularized in the late 1990s.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.