sneer

English

Etymology

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”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /snɪə̯/
• (US) IPA^(key): /snɪɚ̯/

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)

Verb

sneer (third-person singular simple present sneers, present participle sneering, simple past and past participle sneered)

1. (intransitive) To raise a corner of the upper lip slightly, especially in scorn.
   • 1890, Henry Kingsley, Old Margaret: And Other Stories, page 393:

     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.

2. (transitive) To utter with a grimace or contemptuous expression; to say sneeringly.

   Synonyms: fleer; see also Thesaurus:sneer

   to sneer fulsome lies at a person

   • 1913, Land of Sunshine, page 116:

     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."

Translations

raise a corner of the upper lip slightly in scorn

• Czech: ušklíbat se impf, pohrdavě se usmívat
• Dutch: de (nl) neus (nl) optrekken (nl)/ophalen (nl), grimlachen (nl)
• Esperanto: rikani
• Finnish: hymähtää ivallisesti, irvistää (fi)
• French: ricaner (fr)
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: μυκτηρίζω (muktērízō)

• Hebrew: סָנַט (he)
• Italian: ghignare (it), sogghignare (it)
• Japanese: 嘲る (ja) (azakeru), 冷笑する (ja) (reishō suru)
• Korean: 비웃다 (ko) (biutda)
• Māori: whakarāwai, whakahīhī, whakahī
• Norwegian: hånflire
• Persian: دهن‌کجی کردن (dahan-kaji kardan)
• Swedish: grina (sv), hånle (sv)

to mock with a grimace

• Czech: posmívat se impf, vysmívat se impf
• Māori: whakarāwai
• Polish: drwić (pl) impf, szydzić (pl) impf, kpić (pl) impf

Noun

sneer (plural sneers)

1. A facial expression where one slightly raises one corner of the upper lip, generally indicating scorn.
   • 1817 (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 […], published 1839, →OCLC, page 67:

     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 read

   • 1835, Charlotte Brontë, chapter XXX, in Villette‎^[1]:

     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 [...]

2. A display of contempt; scorn.
   • 1963, C.L.R. James, The Black Jacobins, 2nd Revised edition, page 24:

     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, Margery Allingham, chapter 8, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

     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.

   • 2019 July 24, David Austin Walsh, “Flirting With Fascism”, in Jewish Currents‎^[2]:

     During [Tucker] Carlson’s keynote, he wedged sneers at his critics for crying “racist!” in between racist remarks about [Ilhan] Omar, jeremiads against the media (“I know there’s a bunch of reporters here, so . . . screw you”), and an attack on Elizabeth Warren and her donors (“She’s a tragedy, because she’s now obsessed with racism, which is why the finance world supports her”)—all to gleeful applause.

Translations

facial expression that indicates scorn

• Catalan: somriure de menyspreu m, somriure d'escarni m
• Czech: úšklebek m, úsměšek m, jízlivý úsměv, posměšek m
• Dutch: grijns (nl), gehoon (nl)
• Finnish: ivahymy (fi), irvistys (fi)
• French: sourire en coin (fr)
• German: Hohnlächeln n, höhnisches Grinsen n
• Italian: ghigno (it) m, sogghigno (it) m
• Japanese: 嘲笑 (ja) (chōshō), 冷笑 (ja) (reishō)
• Korean: 비웃음 (biuseum)
• Latin: sanna f
• Persian: دهن‌کجی (dahan-kaji)
• Russian: ухмылка (ru) f (uxmylka)
• Swedish: hånleende (sv) n

Derived terms

• sneerer
• sneerful
• sneeringly
• sneerless
• sneerocracy
• sneer quote
• sneery
• unsneering

See also

• snarl

Anagrams

• Neers, Resen, ernes, neers, reens

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English sneer (“scornful facial expression”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sneːr/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eːr

Noun

sneer m (plural sneren or sneers, diminutive sneertje n)

1. snide remark, dig

   een sneer uitdelen aan ― to take a dig at