snarl word

English

Noun

snarl word (plural snarl words)

1. A derogatory term, a term used to insult or demean its referent.
   • 1969, Jay Cline, Voices in literature, language, and composition, page 204:

     If you like to eat spinach the word spinach is a purr word to you; it may make your mouth water. If the taste of spinach nauseates you, then the word spinach would be a snarl word.

   • 2011, Jay A. Gertzman, Bookleggers and Smuthounds: The Trade in Erotica, 1920-1940:

     His trenchant criticisms of the Church's repression, wielding the snarl word “smut” and the shibboleth “decency,” of liberal political and social ideas regarding divorce, sex education, family planning, and abortion include a discussion of the considerable 1938 success of the fledgling NODL in getting magazines removed from various points of sale.

   • 2012, Joachim Onyeakor, Did We Create God?: God Scam Exposed!, →ISBN, page 72:

     The term cult is generally used as a hateful snarl word that is intended to intentionally devalue people and the new faith groups that they have chosen to follow. It tends to associate thousands of benign religious groups with the handful of destructive religious groups that have caused loss of life.

   • 2016, Dawn Archer, What's in a Word-list?: Investigating Word Frequency and Keyword Extraction, Routledge, →ISBN:

     The word 'lobby' is in effect a snarl word in the MWC.

See also

• bug-word
• purr word

Anagrams

• RNA worlds