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

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

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

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

"Oh, Nick," she snivels with self-pity, "it takes so long to have a baby, you forget what made it seem like a good idea in the first place."

From Time Magazine Archive

Then they lay quiet, panting, listening to Robert's frightened snivels.

From "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding

"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

“A lot of good that does me,” the C.I.D. man sniveled.

From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller

“Sorry I gave you a hard time this morning,” I sniveled.

From "Fourth Grade Rats" by Jerry Spinelli

"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

Bellaroba snivelled, but she was scornful under her cloak, and no word passed between the pair until they were in the great blunt-nosed barge, heading against a crisping tide for Chioggia.

From Little Novels of Italy by Maurice Henry Hewlett

The greasy string took up the laugh, and snivelled in chorus.

From The Adventures of a Three-Guinea Watch by Talbot Baines Reed

When the last of the animals had sniffed and snivelled its way into the ark—it was a porcupine with a cold in its head—the islanders, the M.A.'s, Lucy and Mr. Noah followed.

From The Magic City by H. R. (Harold Robert) Millar

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

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

Those sequences are so terrifying because you're reduced to this sniveling child character, and it felt different from the types of characters that we usually see you play, which are so headstrong and confident.

From Salon ● Feb. 20, 2025

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

There’s no denying the pleasure of seeing Dickens’s Peggottys transformed into the kindly Peggots, or his oily villain Uriah Heep recast as a sniveling assistant football coach named U-Haul Pyles.

From Washington Post ● Oct. 25, 2022

“Well, it does me good. I’m sick of being a sniveling wage slave.”

From "Lyddie" by Katherine Paterson

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

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

The screen faded to black, ending in silence, no titles and a lot of viewers like me offering to make the post-Corrie cuppa and snivelling by themselves in the kitchen.

From The Guardian ● Dec. 3, 2010

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

Look it up. Learn it forever.

Remember new words for good with VocabTrainer. Expand your vocabulary effortlessly with personalized learning tools that adapt to your goals.

Take me to Vocabulary.com