1
: a gastropod mollusk especially when having an external enclosing spiral shell
2
: a slow-moving or sluggish person or thing
snailed; snailing; snails
: to move, act, or go slowly or lazily
Synonyms
Examples of snail in a Sentence
Noun
go and tell the snails in the back to hurry up
Verb
the highway construction work created a bottleneck that had cars snailing for the next five miles
Recent Examples on the Web
Sarah Y. Wu, Glamour, 23 Oct. 2024
Ocean secrets The arms of an underwater robot helped uncover communities of giant tube worms and snails living in volcanic caves beneath warm vents in the Pacific Ocean.
—Ashley Strickland, CNN, 19 Oct. 2024
Anthony Demarco, Forbes, 23 Oct. 2024
Movement components reveal classical decoration, including Côtes de Genève, beveling, and snailing.
—Nancy Olson, Forbes, 28 Feb. 2024
See all Example Sentences for snail 
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Noun
Two classic examples are ginseng (an anti-inflammatory that can plump fine lines) and snail mucin (for hydration and antiaging).
—Sarah Y. Wu, Glamour, 23 Oct. 2024
Ocean secrets The arms of an underwater robot helped uncover communities of giant tube worms and snails living in volcanic caves beneath warm vents in the Pacific Ocean.
—Ashley Strickland, CNN, 19 Oct. 2024
Verb
The hour track is smooth, the minute track is snailed and the central area of the dial is finished with a vertical brush.
—Anthony Demarco, Forbes, 23 Oct. 2024
Movement components reveal classical decoration, including Côtes de Genève, beveling, and snailing.
—Nancy Olson, Forbes, 28 Feb. 2024
See all Example Sentences for snail
Dictionary Entries Near snail
Cite this Entry
“Snail.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/snail. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.
Copy CitationMedical Definition
snail
noun
: any of various gastropod mollusks and especially those having an external enclosing spiral shell including some which are important in medicine as intermediate hosts of trematodes
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