snail

CEFRB1

/sneɪl/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A small animal with a soft body and a spiral shell.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    A slow person; a sluggard.

Examples

  • The GNP has been growing at a snail's pace.

  • The taxi seemed to go as slowly as a snail.

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
1
Synonyms
2

Also pronounced

  • [sn̥eɪ̯ɫ]

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. A spiral cam, or a flat piece of metal of spirally curved outline, used for giving motion to, or changing the position of, another part, as the hammer tail of a striking clock.

  2. Any of very many animals (either hermaphroditic or nonhermaphroditic), of the class Gastropoda, having a coiled shell.

  3. The pod of the snail clover.

More examples

In context

  • The cars were snailing along the motorway during the rush hour.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

In the garden, a slow blank moved across the lettuce leaves this morning.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

From Middle English snayl, snail, from the Old English sneġel, from Proto-Germanic *snagilaz. Cognate with Low German Snagel, Snâel, Snâl (“snail”), German Schnegel (“slug”). Compare also Old Norse snigill, from Proto-Germanic *snigilaz.