sneer
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A facial expression of contempt or scorn.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
snirIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈsnɪɹ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A facial expression of contempt or scorn; the upper lip curls
A facial expression where one slightly raises one corner of the upper lip, generally indicating scorn.
A display of contempt; scorn.
verb
intransitive
To raise a corner of the upper lip slightly, especially in scorn.
transitive
To utter with a grimace or contemptuous expression; to say sneeringly.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Rare
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A facial expression of contempt or scorn; the upper lip curls
Used this way, sneer is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Critical or judgemental
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use sneer
- “She sneered at her little sister's efforts to play the song on the piano.”verb
- “She sneered her contempt.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.