Definition of SNARK

snark

Plural: snarks

Noun

  • A mythical, elusive creature or a snide remark.
  • Snide remarks or attitude.
  • The fictional creature of Lewis Carroll's poem, used allusively to refer to fruitless quest or search.
  • A graph in which every node has three branches, and the edges cannot be coloured in fewer than four colours without two edges of the same colour meeting at a point.
  • A fluke or unrepeatable result or detection in an experiment.

Verb

  • To express oneself in a snarky fashion.
  • To snort.

Examples

  • Cabrera's Valentine's Day monopole detection or some extremely energetic cosmic rays could be examples of snarks.
  • Playing ’SNARK’ scored surprisingly well, despite its fictional nature.

Origin / Etymology

Noun sense “snide remark” as back-formation from snarky (1906), from obsolete snark (“to snore, snort”, verb) (1866), from Middle English *snarken (“to snore”), from Proto-West Germanic *snarkōn, equivalent to snore + -k. Compare Low German snarken, North Frisian snarke, Swedish snarka, German schnarchen, and English snort and snore. Of Germanic origin, but ultimately onomatopoeic.

Synonyms

sarcasm, snideness

Scrabble Score: 9

snark: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
snark: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
snark: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 10

snark: valid Words With Friends Word