How to spell gnarly

twisted with or as if with gnarls or knots; gnarled: long and gnarly fingers. Slang. distasteful or distressing; offensive; gross: a comic noted for his gnarly humor. Slang. difficult or dangerous: the gnarly surf.

slang Awesome; fantastic; excellent; extreme. slang Gruesome; extremely unpleasant. Primarily heard in US. The accident left a pretty gnarly gash on his thigh.

Gnarly means “treacherous.” An acceptable synonym is “hairy.” Surf punks use gnarly to refer to any wave over two feet or any woman of prodigious size. Still, you may refer to a man or woman of great importance as “Your Gnarlyness.”

Etymologists believe that the expression originates from the word “gnarled,” which means knobbly, rough, and twisted, especially with age. For around 200 years (1750-1950), the word kept its literal meaning. But suddenly, some crazy people who enjoy walking on water gave it another linguistic dimension.

very good, excellent; “cool”. That trick on your skateboard was gnarly!

Gnarly sentence example

Their faces were browned by the sun; their hands were hard and gnarly ; their backs were bent by much heavy lifting; their clothing was in tatters. You’ll need to maneuver in the dark among the gnarly roots, the animals, the rocks, etc. When the sun goes down, it can get pretty dark out there!

gnarly adjective (EXCITING)

used to describe something extreme, especially something that is very dangerous and exciting: The waves were what surfers would call “pretty gnarly.”

Gnarly comes from surfer slang of the 1960s, to describe a wave that was difficult, dangerous, and awesome. The water in the wave would literally appear gnarled, curled, and messy.

gnarly(adjective) Synonyms: nasty, dreadful, cool, discordant, knobbly, knobby, gnarled, awful.

In this page you can discover 41 synonyms, antonyms, idiomatic expressions, and related words for groovy, like: sensational, fantastical, out-of-this-world, excellent, wonderful, glorious, copacetic, swagger, peachy, cool and marvelous.

“gnarled and knotted hands”; “a knobbed stick” Antonyms: straight. Synonyms: tangled, baffling, problematic, gnarly, convoluted, tortuous, tough, snarly, problematical, involved, snarled, knotted, elusive, knotty, knobbed.