{{Short description|Sound, often a growl or vicious utterance}} {{other uses}} {{More citations needed|date=December 2024}} {{wiktionary|snarl}} [[Image:Snarl2006.JPG|right|frame|A facial expression which often accompanies a snarl]] [[Image:Hieronymus Bosch 056.jpg|thumb|right|The figure on the far right has a facial expression commonly associated with snarling.]]
A '''snarl''' is a sound, often a [[Growling|growl]] or vicious utterance,<ref name="OED">{{cite web|url=http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/snarl?q=snarl|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140811031144/http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/snarl?q=snarl|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 11, 2014|title=OED definition of 'snarl'|date=2014-07-28|publisher=OED Online}}</ref><ref name="Collins Dictionary">{{cite web|url=http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/snarl|title=Collins Dictionary definition of 'snarl'|date=2014-07-28|publisher=Collins}}</ref> often accompanied by a [[facial expression]], where the upper lip is raised, and the nostrils widen, generally indicating [[hate]], [[anger]] or [[pain]]. In addition to [[human]]s, other [[mammal]]s including [[monkey]]s, [[rabbit]]s and [[dog]]s snarl, often to warn others of their potential bite. In humans, snarling uses the [[levator labii superioris alaeque nasi muscle]]. The threatening vocalizations of snarling are often accompanied by or used synonymously with threatening facial expressions.
The word "snarl" is also used as an [[onomatopoeia]] for the threatening noise to which it refers, as in the 'snarl' of a [[chainsaw]]. This usage may derive from the common expression describing a dog as "growling and snarling". One literary use of "snarl" to mean a noise is in ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' in the encounter with the [[barrow-wight]]: "''In the dark there was a snarling noise''".
==References== {{reflist}}
[[Category:Aggression]]
{{Psych-stub}}