sneerful
adjUK /ˈsnɪə(ɹ)fʊl/ · US /ˈsnɪɹfʊl/
Etymology From sneer + -ful.
1
Given to sneering.
- Cell ever squalid where the sneerful maid Will not fatigue her hand!1771, William Shenstone, The Poetical Works of Wm. Shenstone Esq, page 210:
- Whenever I find myself feeling sneerful, I just remind myself, 'But there's Jaro — intelligent and kind and strong.'1928, Helen Reimensnyder Martin, The Lie, page 175:
2 more examples
- My restless, itchy Syrian companion was rolling a cigarette beside me, making some observation futile and sneerful as usual.1930, Harold Courtenay Armstrong, Turkey and Syria reborn: a record of two years of travel, page 78:
- Abby could tell by his voice that he wasn't in his sneerful humour but was friendly drunk.1944, Edith Pope, Colcorton, page 193:
2
Expressing contempt.
- He stood for a few seconds looking after the car, on his lips a sneerful smile.1951, Where Town Begins, page 6:
- Caspar Cass's Comedy Players at the Winter Garden, an ash-blonde girl said to a tall thin man with a sneerful face.1972, Douglas Hayes, A player's hide, page 114:
2 more examples
- Not that you do actually sneer, of course — that is stage business, not storytelling—but still a sneerful suggestion undoubtedly creeps in.1972, May Hill Arbuthnot, Zena Sutherland, Children and Books, page 656:
- Satan must laugh in sneerful derision.2005, Ronald J. Sider, The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience: