Nearby Words

gnarly

[nahr-lee] Example Sentences Origin

gnarl·y

[nahr-lee]
adjective, gnarl·i·er, gnarl·i·est.
2.
Slang. distasteful; distressing; offensive; gross: a comic noted for his gnarly humor.

Origin:
1820–30; gnarl1 + -y1

gnarl·i·ness, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Gnarly is always a great word to know.
So is cheesy. Does it mean:
to deceive, cheat, or dupe
inferior or cheap, chintzy
Example Sentences
  • Knowles, secret weapon in hand, stood before a stove with cheery yellow flames dancing over a stack of gnarly logs.
  • Below you will see the struggle it takes for an entire team of fishermen to catch this gnarly beast.
  • And wait til you see the gnarly beast with giant fangs that leaps into view.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
gnarly (ˈnɑːlɪ)
 
adj
1.  another word for gnarled
2.  informal (NZ) good; great
3.  slang surfing difficult and dangerous

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

gnarly
1829, from gnarl (see gnarled) + -y (2). Picked up 1970s as surfer slang to describe a dangerous wave; it had spread in teen slang by 1980s, where it meant both "excellent" and "disgusting."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Slang Dictionary

(g)narly definition

[ˈnɑrli]
  1. mod.
    extreme; excellent; great; superior. (California.) : This pizza is too gnarly for words!
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source
FOLDOC
Computing Dictionary

gnarly definition

jargon
/nar'lee/ Both obscure and hairy. "Yow! - the tuned assembler implementation of BitBlt is really gnarly!" From a similar but less specific usage in surfer slang.
[Jargon File]
(1996-09-17)

The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © Denis Howe 2010 http://foldoc.org
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