sneer
/snɪə̯/US/snɪɚ̯/
sneer verb: to raise a corner of the upper lip slightly, especially in scorn.
Verb
sneer (third-person singular simple present sneers, present participle sneering, simple past and past participle sneered)
- To raise a corner of the upper lip slightly, especially in scorn.
- So General Oakfield's friends taunted him with having been beaten, and Blackeston's friends sneered at him for not having called the general out. Blackeston, a studious and sensitive man, felt the taunts of his friends as only a student can.1890, Henry Kingsley, Old Margaret: And Other Stories, page 393
- To utter with a grimace or contemptuous expression; to say sneeringly.
- to sneer fulsome lies at a person
- There was a quick scuffle within the cabin. "Leave me alone, I say, and git!" cried the cook. "Can't I be friendly without you hollerin?" sneered the miner. "You wouldn't have been 'lowed to stay round here if it hadn't been for me."1913, Land of Sunshine, page 116
- Synonyms:
- fleer
Noun
sneer (plural sneers)
- A facial expression where one slightly raises one corner of the upper lip, generally indicating scorn.
- Near them, on the sand, / Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, / And wrinked lip, and sneer of cold command, / Tell that its sculptor well those passions read1817 (published 11 January 1818), Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Sonnet. Ozymandias.”, in [Mary] Shelley, editor, The Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley. […], volume III, London: Edward Moxon […]...
- He supposed then (with a sneer—M. Paul could sneer supremely, curling his lip, opening his nostrils, contracting his eyelids)—he supposed there was but one form of appeal to which I would listen [...]1835, Charlotte Brontë, chapter XXX, in Villette
- A display of contempt; scorn.
- And wordy attacks against slavery drew sneers from observers which were not altogether undeserved. The authors were compared to doctors who offered to a patient nothing more than invectives against the disease which consumed him.1963, C.L.R. James, The Black Jacobins, 2nd Revised edition, page 24
- It was a casual sneer, obviously one of a long line. There was hatred behind it, but of a quiet, chronic type, nothing new or unduly virulent, and he was taken aback by the flicker of amazed incredulity that passed over the younger man's ravaged face.1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 8, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC
sneer meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
sneer in Hindi
- sneer, jeer, taunt, insult
- तंज़ tanz
sneer in Tamil
- இகழ்ச்சிப் பார்வை
sneer in Urdu
- منہ چڑھانا, طنز کرنا
sneer in Bengali
- অবজ্ঞাসূচক হাসি, তাচ্ছিল্য
More languagesFewer languages
- sneer in Malayalam
- പുച്ഛിക്കുക pucchikkuka
- sneer in Kannada
- ಮೊನೆಮಾತು, ಗೇಲಿ, ಅಣಕದ ನಗು, ಹೀಗಳೆವ ನಗು
- sneer in Persian
- دهنکجی کردن dahan-kaji kardan, دهنکجی dahan-kaji
Examples of sneer in a sentence
- He grinned a cruel sneer when I begged him to stop.
- He made a sneering comment about their closeness.
- The reprobate criminal sneered at me.
Synonyms of sneer
Antonyms
Forms of sneer
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | sneers |
| present participle | sneering |
| past participle | sneered |
| past | sneered |
| Noun | |
| plural | sneers |
Origin of sneer
From Middle English sneren (“to mock, scoff at”), from Old English fnǣran (“to snort”), from Proto-West Germanic *fnāʀijan, from Proto-Germanic *fnesaną (“to pant, gasp”). Akin to North Frisian sneere (“to scorn”), Middle High German snerren (“to chatter; gossip”), Danish snerre (“to growl, snarl”).
Words formed from sneer
Phrases with sneer
Words that rhyme with sneer
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- spear
- career
- fear
- here
- steer
- appear
- cavalier
- cheer
- leer
- pioneer
- queer
- volunteer
- adhere
- beer
- chandelier
- deer
- financier
- pier
- premier
- privateer
- sheer
- veer
- vizier
- austere
- bombardier
- brigadier
- cashmere
- commandeer
- disappear
- endear
- grenadier
- interfere
- mere
- mountaineer
- peer
- sear
- tear
- tier
- unclear
- arrear
- bier
- blear
- cameleer
- cashier
- chiffonier
- cohere
- fakir
- farseer
Questions about sneer
- What does sneer mean?
- Sneer means to raise a corner of the upper lip slightly, especially in scorn.
- What is sneer in Hindi?
- Sneer in Hindi is तंज़ (tanz). See Sneer meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is sneer?
- Sneer can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce sneer?
- Sneer is pronounced /snɪə̯/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of sneer?
- The past tense of sneer is sneered.
Words near sneer in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: sneer (page history and authors); तंज़ (Hindi) (page history and authors); sneer (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); sneer (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); sneer (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); പുച്ഛിക്കുക (Malayalam) (page history and authors); sneer (Kannada Wiktionary) (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.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-sneer.wav.
Cite this entry: “sneer.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sneer. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.