sneerful

comparative more sneerful · superlative most sneerful

1. Given to sneering.

   Cell ever squalid where the sneerful maid Will not fatigue her hand!

   1771, William Shenstone, The Poetical Works of Wm. Shenstone Esq, page 210

   3 more examples

   Whenever I find myself feeling sneerful, I just remind myself, 'But there's Jaro — intelligent and kind and strong.'

   1928, Helen Reimensnyder Martin, The Lie, page 175

   My restless, itchy Syrian companion was rolling a cigarette beside me, making some observation futile and sneerful as usual.

   1930, Harold Courtenay Armstrong, Turkey and Syria reborn: a record of two years of travel, page 78

   Abby could tell by his voice that he wasn't in his sneerful humour but was friendly drunk.

   1944, Edith Pope, Colcorton, page 193

2. Expressing contempt.

   Satan must laugh in sneerful derision.

   2005, Ronald J. Sider, The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience

   3 more examples

   He stood for a few seconds looking after the car, on his lips a sneerful smile.

   1951, Where Town Begins, page 6

   Caspar Cass's Comedy Players at the Winter Garden, an ash-blonde girl said to a tall thin man with a sneerful face.

   1972, Douglas Hayes, A player's hide, page 114

   Not that you do actually sneer, of course — that is stage business, not storytelling—but still a sneerful suggestion undoubtedly creeps in.

   1972, May Hill Arbuthnot, Zena Sutherland, Children and Books, page 656