sneerful

English

Etymology

sneer +‎ -ful

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈsnɪə(ɹ)fʊl/, /ˈsnɪə(ɹ)fəl/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsnɪɹfʊl/, /ˈsnɪɹfəl/
• Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)fəl, -ɪə(ɹ)fʊl

Adjective

sneerful (comparative more sneerful, superlative most sneerful)

1. Given to sneering.
   • 1771, William Shenstone, The Poetical Works of Wm. Shenstone Esq, page 210:

     Cell ever squalid where the sneerful maid Will not fatigue her hand!

   • 1928, Helen Reimensnyder Martin, The Lie, page 175:

     Whenever I find myself feeling sneerful, I just remind myself, 'But there's Jaro — intelligent and kind and strong.'

   • 1930, Harold Courtenay Armstrong, Turkey and Syria reborn: a record of two years of travel, page 78:

     My restless, itchy Syrian companion was rolling a cigarette beside me, making some observation futile and sneerful as usual.

   • 1944, Edith Pope, Colcorton, page 193:

     Abby could tell by his voice that he wasn't in his sneerful humour but was friendly drunk.

2. Expressing contempt.
   • 1951, Where Town Begins, page 6:

     He stood for a few seconds looking after the car, on his lips a sneerful smile.

   • 1972, Douglas Hayes, A player's hide, page 114:

     Caspar Cass's Comedy Players at the Winter Garden, an ash-blonde girl said to a tall thin man with a sneerful face.

   • 1972, May Hill Arbuthnot, Zena Sutherland, Children and Books, page 656:

     Not that you do actually sneer, of course — that is stage business, not storytelling—but still a sneerful suggestion undoubtedly creeps in.

   • 2005, Ronald J. Sider, The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience:

     Satan must laugh in sneerful derision.