EN

Synonyms for gnarly

  • adjective

Most common

gnarled knobby knobbly knotty knobbed nasty chronic knarred

Synonyms by meaning

Adjective

1. Gnarled — having or characterized by gnarls; gnarled

gnarled, knobby, knobbly, wurly UK

2. Knotty

knotty, knotted, knobbed

3. Jarring — unpleasant, awful, ugly. Of music or a sound, harsh

jarring, cacophonic, discordant slang

4. Nasty

nasty, awesome, cool, wicked, dreadful, awful slang

Other

chronic, knarred

Antonyms

mediocre, crapo

All antonyms of gnarly →

Definitions

  1. adj. 1

    Having or characterized by gnarls; gnarled.

  2. adj. 2

    Unpleasant, awful, ugly. Of music or a sound: harsh.

    Near-synonyms: cacophonic, discordant, jarring

  3. adj. 3

    Excellent; attractive.

  4. adj. 4

    Dangerous; difficult.

Related words

Other spellings
gnarley knarly

Example sentences

  • gnarled The raven perched atop the eerie, gnarled tree.
  • knotty Tom's cabin has knotty pine walls.
  • nasty The child had a nasty cough because he had a cold.

Popularity over time

Word1850 → 2019Trend
gnarlyrising
gnarledrising
knobbyrising
knobblyrising
knottyfalling
knobbedfalling

Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.

By length

4 letters
cool1
5 letters
awful2, nasty2, wurly
6 letters
wicked2, knotty2, knobby2
7 letters
awesome2, chronic2, jarring2, knotted2, gnarled1, knobbly, knobbed, knarred
8 letters
dreadful2
10 letters
discordant3, cacophonic

The small number after each word is its number of syllables (awful2 = 2 syllables).