Snowball Meaning
/ˈsnəʊbɔːl/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA ball of snow, usually one made in the hand and thrown for amusement in a snowball fight; also a larger ball of snow made by rolling a snowball around in snow that sticks to it and increases its diameter.
nounA cocktail made from lemonade and advocaat.
Sentence Examples
The children were rolling a big snowball.
We had a snowball fight.
A small snowball is capable of starting an avalanche.
CEFR Practice Quiz
He packed snow tightly into a round shape to make a ____ for the fight.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
A small mistake can quickly ____ into a major problem if it is not addressed immediately by the team.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English snoweball, snoweballe, snaweballe, snayballe, equivalent to snow + ball. Cognate with Scots snawbaw, German Schneeball, Luxembourgish Schnéiball, Dutch sneeuwbal, Afrikaans sneeubal, Limburgish snieëbal, West Frisian sniebal, Saterland Frisian Sneebaal, Sneebal, Swedish snöboll, Elfdalian sniųoboll, Danish snebold, Norwegian Bokmål snøball, Norwegian Nynorsk snøball and Icelandic snjóbolti.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Representatives of the small airlines that felt betrayed by Brown's policy started a political snowball rolling, resulting in the Airmail Act of 1934..."
— 2005, Eldad Ben-Yosef, The Evolution of the US Airline Industry:
"Scandal, with her, did not lose any of its usual snowball propensities, of gathering as it went."
— 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “Another London Life”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 175:
"There's a further knock-on effect from cancelling trains. It's not unusual for train crew diagrams to include a period 'on the cushions', travelling as a passenger to get staff from one train to the next. Cancel this train and it's likely the crew won't reach their next train, so this too is cancelled. Disruption snowballs and diagrams become harder to deliver."
— 2023 January 11, Philip Haigh, “Comment: The worst chaos for 40 years”, in RAIL, number 974, page 4:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
He packed snow tightly into a round shape to make a ____ for the fight.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
A small mistake can quickly ____ into a major problem if it is not addressed immediately by the team.