Word.ws English Dictionary

snarky

/ˈsnɑː.ki/US/ˈsnɑɹ.ki/

snarky adjective: snide and sarcastic; usually out of irritation.

Adjective

snarky (comparative snarkier, superlative snarkiest)

  1. (humorous, informal, often) Snide and sarcastic; usually out of irritation.
    • 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.2011 October 19, “You may know me as a snarky caption writer whose work went viral”, in The Guardian
  2. (obsolete) Irritable, irritated.
    • '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.1910, E. Nesbit, chapter 12, in The Magic City
    • 'E barks. "I'll do me work meself, yeh 'ear?" An' then 'e gits so snarky that I clear.1918, C. J. Dennis, “Dad”, in Digger Smith
    Synonyms:
    cranky

Synonyms of snarky

Forms of snarky

comparativesnarkier
superlativesnarkiest

Origin of snarky

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.

Words formed from snarky

Words that rhyme with snarky

Questions about snarky

What does snarky mean?
Snarky means snide and sarcastic; usually out of irritation.
What part of speech is snarky?
Snarky is an adjective.
How do you pronounce snarky?
Snarky is pronounced /ˈsnɑɹ.ki/ (US).

Words near snarky in the dictionary

  1. snarkish
  2. snarkishly
  3. snarkless
  4. snarks
  5. snarktastic
  6. snarky
  7. snarl
  8. snarl up
  9. snarl word
  10. snarl words
  11. snarl-up

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: snarky (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-snarky.wav.

Cite this entry: “snarky.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/snarky. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.