snails 1 of 2

noun

plural of snail
as in slugs
someone who moves slowly or more slowly than others go and tell the snails in the back to hurry up

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snails

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of snail
as in crawls
to move slowly the highway construction work created a bottleneck that had cars snailing for the next five miles

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of snails
Noun
The inflatable horses, butterflies, snails and other creatures were made by the New York artist and designer Katie Stout. — Samantha Conti, Footwear News, 29 Sep. 2026 Aquarium officials received some 500 marine animals from that operation on June 19, taking in an array of fish, sharks, clams, shrimp, prawns and tiny snails. — John Donegan Long Beach Post, Arkansas Online, 15 Sep. 2026 Zebra sharks tend to rest on reef floors, regulating bottom-dwelling prey such as snails, clams, crabs, shrimp and small fish, an important part of maintaining thriving ecosystems. — Adriana Pérez, Chicago Tribune, 31 Aug. 2026 That includes September’s Aloha Festivals celebrating Hawaiian traditions and the annual Kāhuli Festival at the Bishop Museum in October, a unique family-friendly event spotlighting the vital role of Hawaiian land snails in preserving biodiversity. — Beth Luberecki, USA Today, 31 Aug. 2026 Scientists rescued 34 endangered humped tree snails from Guam by collecting them in empty peanut butter jars ahead of a powerful typhoon. — Brittney Melton, NPR, 27 Aug. 2026 She and her hundreds of pet snails are visited by a young man named Edward Ridgeway (Alden Ehrenreich) who has been sent by her American publisher to convince her to sign a contract to write one more Ripley novel. — Rebecca Ford, Vanity Fair, 26 Aug. 2026 At Carter Lake, boat inspection checkpoints are now looking for the snails in addition to other invasive species, such as zebra mussels. — Dillon Thomas, CBS News, 19 Aug. 2026 All of this is served with a swirl of rice noodles and a broth scented with the earthy, slightly mushroomy aromas of river snails. — Warren Rojas, Washington Post, 19 Aug. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for snails
  1. slugs
  2. crawls
  3. stragglers
  4. drags
  5. crawlers
  6. creeps
  7. lingerers
  8. pokes
Noun
  • Families can learn about slugs, spiders, vultures and more during Creepy Critters Month at the Knoch Knolls Nature Center, 320 Knoch Knolls Road, a park district news release said.
    — Michelle Mullins, Chicago Tribune, 23 Sep. 2026
  • With the light load of powder that was behind them, these slugs couldn’t possibly have killed the tigress unless an extremely lucky shot had put them into a vital area at very close range.
    — Leslie E. Tassell, Outdoor Life, 27 Aug. 2026
Definition of slugs
Verb
  • There’s also a less than 10% chance of showers, if one of the hurricanes crawls farther up the coast, according to Wofford.
    — Alex Wigglesworth, Los Angeles Times, 24 Sep. 2026
  • Hairy-nosed wombat births are hard to spot, as after about a 30-day pregnancy, the joey crawls into its mother’s pouch.
    — Devoun Cetoute, Miami Herald, 16 Aug. 2026
Definition of crawls
Noun
  • The daffodils here were almost finished, apart from one little patch of stragglers still flowering on heroically against the odds.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 15 Sep. 2026
  • Swarms or stragglers are most likely to be spotted near the Great Lakes shorelines because the lakes help funnel their routes.
    — Sarah Moore, Freep.com, 14 Sep. 2026
Definition of stragglers
Verb
  • Republicans have expressed growing pessimism about their chances in the election, which will determine control of Congress, as the president has repeatedly dismissed concerns about high costs and gas prices as his unpopular war in Iran drags on.
    — MICHELLE L. PRICE, Arkansas Online, 2 Oct. 2026
  • In it, a botched secret mission drags Eken Babu into a mystery in Kerala.
    — Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 30 Sep. 2026
Definition of drags
Noun
  • The crawlers wander about the plants for a short period of time and then begin to feed and create a waxy covering.
    — Tim Johnson, Chicago Tribune, 20 Sep. 2026
  • Giant sectionals gave space for everyone to sit in the first floor living room, with plenty of floor space for crawlers and new walkers to safely explore.
    — Tara Massouleh McCay, Southern Living, 4 Sep. 2026
Definition of crawlers
Verb
  • The tone creeps into despair as the scales fall from Sutskever’s eyes.
    — E. Alex Jung, Vulture, 2 Oct. 2026
  • Rain creeps back into the forecast by the middle of next week, when the tides are expected to be closer to normal.
    — Alex Harris Updated September 27, Miami Herald, 27 Sep. 2026
Definition of creeps
Noun
  • The lingerers brought their dirty dishes to the bus tub, wiped their mouths one last time with a napkin, and waved to Cleo, their faces saying, Nice job!
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 18 Sep. 2026
  • Nakamura designs for lingerers.
    — Justin Davidson, Curbed, 1 Apr. 2026
Definition of lingerers
Verb
  • And yet there’s this piece in the policy which pokes its head [and forces them to find a surrogate in Texas].
    — Nick Vivarelli, Variety, 2 Oct. 2026
  • The International Kazoo Championship pokes a little fun at the rigidity of the main stage.
    — David Alm, Longreads, 1 Oct. 2026
Definition of pokes

Browse Nearby Words

snail-paced
snails
snake
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Snails.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/snails. Accessed 9 Oct. 2026.

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