A snarl is a sound, often a growl or vicious utterance,
often accompanied by a
facial expression, where the upper lip is raised, and the nostrils widen, generally indicating
hate,
anger or
pain
Pain is a distressing feeling often caused by intense or damaging stimuli. The International Association for the Study of Pain defines pain as "an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with, or resembling that associated with, ...
. In addition to
humans, other
mammal
Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...
s including
monkey
Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as the simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes, which constitutes an incomple ...
s,
rabbit
Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit speci ...
s and
dogs 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
Barrow-wights are wraith-like creatures in J. R. R. Tolkien's world of Middle-earth. In ''The Lord of the Rings'', the four hobbits are trapped by a barrow-wight, and are lucky to escape with their lives; but they gain ancient swords of Western ...
: "''In the dark there was a snarling noise''".
References
Aggression
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