Nominal Forms
Infinitive: to snivel
Participle: sniveled; snivelled
Gerund: sniveling; snivelling
Indicative
Present
| I | snivel |
| you | snivel |
| he;she;it | snivels |
| we | snivel |
| you | snivel |
| they | snivel |
Perfect
| I | have sniveled; snivelled |
| you | have sniveled; snivelled |
| he;she;it | has sniveled; snivelled |
| we | have sniveled; snivelled |
| you | have sniveled; snivelled |
| they | have sniveled; snivelled |
Past
| I | sniveled; snivelled |
| you | sniveled; snivelled |
| he;she;it | sniveled; snivelled |
| we | sniveled; snivelled |
| you | sniveled; snivelled |
| they | sniveled; snivelled |
Pluperfect
| I | had sniveled; snivelled |
| you | had sniveled; snivelled |
| he;she;it | had sniveled; snivelled |
| we | had sniveled; snivelled |
| you | had sniveled; snivelled |
| they | had sniveled; snivelled |
Future
| I | will snivel |
| you | will snivel |
| he;she;it | will snivel |
| we | will snivel |
| you | will snivel |
| they | will snivel |
Future Perfect
| I | will have sniveled; snivelled |
| you | will have sniveled; snivelled |
| he;she;it | will have sniveled; snivelled |
| we | will have sniveled; snivelled |
| you | will have sniveled; snivelled |
| they | will have sniveled; snivelled |
Subjunctive
Present
| I | snivel |
| you | snivel |
| he;she;it | snivel |
| we | snivel |
| you | snivel |
| they | snivel |
Perfect
| I | have sniveled; snivelled |
| you | have sniveled; snivelled |
| he;she;it | have sniveled; snivelled |
| we | have sniveled; snivelled |
| you | have sniveled; snivelled |
| they | have sniveled; snivelled |
Imperfect
| I | sniveled; snivelled |
| you | sniveled; snivelled |
| he;she;it | sniveled; snivelled |
| we | sniveled; snivelled |
| you | sniveled; snivelled |
| they | sniveled; snivelled |
Pluperfect
| I | had sniveled; snivelled |
| you | had sniveled; snivelled |
| he;she;it | had sniveled; snivelled |
| we | had sniveled; snivelled |
| you | had sniveled; snivelled |
| they | had sniveled; snivelled |
Conditional
Present
| I | would snivel |
| you | would snivel |
| he;she;it | would snivel |
| we | would snivel |
| you | would snivel |
| they | would snivel |
Perfect
| I | would have sniveled; snivelled |
| you | would have sniveled; snivelled |
| he;she;it | would have sniveled; snivelled |
| we | would have sniveled; snivelled |
| you | would have sniveled; snivelled |
| they | would have sniveled; snivelled |
Imperative
| you | snivel |
| we | Let's snivel |
| you | snivel |
Verbs conjugated like 'snivel'
annul,
bevel,
cancel,
carol,
cavil,
channel,
chisel,
compel,
control,
counsel,
court-martial,
cudgel,
decontrol,
dial,
dispel,
dowel,
drivel,
duel,
empanel,
enamel, etc. (List truncated at 20 verbs)
Verbs similar to 'snivel'
snavel,
snive,
swivel,
divel,
drivel,
knive,
rivel,
shiver,
shovel,
shrivel,
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms
- to express feelings of pain, dissatisfaction, or resentment
- bellyache, bleat, carp, chunter, complain, crab, croak, dump on, frine, girn, give out, grotch, gruntle, harp, inveigh, make a stink, murmur, nag, nark, rail, repine, ride
- weep
- whine, bawl, cry, bemoan, moan, bewail, blubber, grieve
Additional Information
The forms with ortographic changes are used in British English, in American English the doubling of the consonant is usually omitted.
Phrasal Verbs
Etymology
1. O.E.
*snyflan "to run at the nose" (cf.
snyflung "running of the nose"), related to
snofl "nasal mucus." Meaning "to be in an (affected) tearful state" is from 1690.
Snivelling "mean-spirited, weak" is recorded from 1647; Melville coined
snivelization (1849).
2. From Middle English snivelen, snevelen, snyvelen, snuvelen, from Old English *snyflan (attested in the verbal noun snyflung (“mucus”)), from Proto-West Germanic *snuflijan, related to Old English snofl (“mucus”), ultimately from the root of snout. Akin to sniff, snuff. Compare sniffle.
3. Cognate with Middle Low German snuffelen, snüffelen (“to sniff, smell”), Danish snøvle (“to sniffle, snivel”), Norwegian Nynorsk snuvla (“to sniffle, snivel”), Swedish snövla (“to sniffle, snivel”).
4. Compare typologically Russian сопе́ть (sopétʹ), сопля́ (sopljá) akinness. See: Danish '
snøvle', Norwegian, nynorsk '
snuvla', Swedish '
snövla'.
Sample Sentences
-
With stinking breath, swart-cheeks, and hanging chaps;
-
With wrinkled neck; and stooping as she goes,
-
With driveling mouth, and with a sniveling nose. [1611, Josuah Sylvester (translator), Du Bartas His Deuine Weekes and Workes, London, Book 4, Week 2, Day 4, p. 623, […] a Hagg, a Fury by my side; With hollow, yellow teeth (or none perhaps)]
-
1794, Erasmus Darwin, Zoonomia, London: J. Johnson, Volume 1, Section 16, Subsection 2, p. 149,
-
[…] in severe frosty weather, snivelling and tears are produced by the coldness and dryness of the air.
-
[…] he began to snivel, and wherever he tried to hide he was found out by the terrific explosions of his suppressed sneezes. [1937, J. R. R. Tolkien, chapter 9, in The Hobbit, New York: Random House, published 1982, page 187:]
-
Let things come to the Worst; when we have Overturned the Government;—Polluted the very Altar, with our MASTERS BLOOD—Cheated the Publick, &c. ’Tis but to Whine and Snivel to the People; tell them we were mis-led, by Cardinall Appetites; [1660, Roger L’Estrange, “No Fool to the Old Fool”, in A Short View of Some Remarkable Transactions, London: Henry Brome, page 95:]
-
[…] after a good deal of sniveling and sobbing, she owned, that so far from being an heiress of a great fortune, she was no other than a common woman of the town, who had decoyed me into matrimony […] [1748, Tobias Smollett, chapter 61, in The Adventures of Roderick Random, volume 2, London: J. Osborn, page 267:]
-
I never snivel over trifles like that. [1868, Louisa May Alcott, chapter 15, in Little Women:]
-
ANNE: Aunt Sara’s in the garden, snivelling in a deck chair.
-
BASTON: What a hard child you are.
-
ANNE: It’s no good being mushy, is it? It’s the truth that matters. and she is snivelling.
-
BASTON: You could have said “crying.”
-
ANNE: But crying’s quite a different thing. [1957, Graham Greene, The Potting Shed, New York: Viking, act 1, scene 1, page 17:]
-
This bye dialogue prevented my hearing what passed between the prisoner and Captain Thornton, but I heard the former snivel out, in a very subdued tone, “And ye’ll ask her to gang nae farther than just to shew ye where the MacGregor is?—Ohon! ohon!” [1817 December 31 (indicated as 1818), [Walter Scott], chapter III, in Rob Roy. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC, page 65:]
-
I, the Socman, am shorn of my lands that you may snivel Latin and eat bread for which you never did hand’s turn. [1891, Arthur Conan Doyle, chapter 9, in The White Company:]
-
‘Oh, hell! I’d snivel psalms to oblige the padre, but I can’t stick the way these damned native Christians come shoving into our church.’ [1934 October, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], “Chapter 2”, in Burmese Days, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, →OCLC:]