snark

¹

[ snahrk ]

noun

1. a mysterious, imaginary animal.

snark

²

[ snahrk ]

verb (used without object)

1. to be critical in a rude or sarcastic way:

   to snark about the neighbors.

noun

1. rude or sarcastic criticism.

Word History and Origins

Origin of snark¹

First recorded in 1876; coined by Lewis Carroll in his poem The Hunting of the Snark

Origin of snark²

First recorded in 1910–15; dialectal snark “to nag, find fault with”; apparently identical with snark, snork “to snort, snore,” probably from Dutch, Low German snorken “to snore”

Example Sentences

If you are looking for snark and biting humor, this is not your book — Shepherd plays it straight the whole way.

From Washington Post

Aaron Sorkin landed the perfect snark when he observed in a 2002 West Wing script that the incumbent President would read his challenger’s latest book as soon as its purported author had.

From Time

Her media diet included shows like VH1’s I Love the ’90s, a series that revisited pop-culture phenomena with snark rather than rigor.

From Time

Magazines that devoted their pages to diet tips and celebrity snark suddenly started preaching “empowerment.”

From Vox

There are moments of Anatomy that are maybe funny, but there was no snark to hide behind.

From Time

See how much snark was unleashed against “dad rock” by the recent U2 iTunes Songs of Innocence fiasco.

From The Daily Beast

It zips like all comedies seem to zip today, quick and nimble, its tone affectionate snark.

From The Daily Beast

But critiques and snark have no place, watching re-runs late at night.

From The Daily Beast

Jimmy Fallon's uncontainable glee is a welcome respite from late night's usual smarm and snark, but that's Fallon's thing.

From The Daily Beast

For such searing, challenging dreams, we have only snark or smarm.

From The Daily Beast

There were also a lot of bathing machines, which made me vaguely wonder if a Snark had once inhabited the place.

From Project Gutenberg

So it seems best partly to take the advice of the Bellman, in the "Hunting of the Snark," to skip sundry years.

From Project Gutenberg

Then the Snark has four water-tight compartments, which is to say that her length is broken by three water-tight bulkheads.

From Project Gutenberg

Thus, no matter how large a leak the Snark may spring, Only one compartment can fill with water.

From Project Gutenberg

Whenever I looked at the bow of the Snark or thought of her water-tight compartments, I was encouraged.

From Project Gutenberg