snide
/snaɪd/ adjective, noun
Forms snider snidest snides
- adjective Disparaging or derisive in an insinuative way. “Don't make snide remarks to me.”
- adjective Tricky; deceptive; false; spurious; contemptible.
- noun (countable) An underhanded, tricky person given to sharp practice; a sharper; a cheat.
- noun (uncountable) Counterfeit money.
Synonyms
Etymology
Probably from a dialectal variant of snithe (“sharp, cutting, cold”). See snithe (adjective).
Alternatively, possibly a metathetic corruption of Middle English snythand (“piercing (the heart), cold, biting”, literally and figuratively). More at snithe (verb).
Compare typologically cutting, Russian ко́лкий (kólkij) (akin to коло́ть (kolótʹ)).
Webster’s 1913
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “snide”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details