Gnarly
What it means
Excellent, impressive, or exciting in dated surf-influenced slang.
Reach for it when giving playful praise where the audience recognizes its slang history
The riders celebrated a gnarly final run through fresh snow.
Words to choose between 7
| playful | |
|---|---|
| everyday | |
| professional |
-
playful
Fits when relaxed social approval matters more than intensity
Careful Cool is vague and can also mean emotionally distant or low in temperature.
-
playful
Fits when scale or difficulty makes the success feel memorable
Careful Epic inflates an ordinary trick or experience.
-
playful
Fits when retro skate or surf slang is intentionally part of the voice
Careful Rad feels dated or performative outside the communities that use it.
-
playful
sick
Fits when current subcultural slang suits impressive skill
Careful Sick is easily misread as illness or disgust and is wrong for formal praise.
-
playful
wicked
Fits when regional slang can carry emphatic approval
Careful Wicked is ambiguous with moral badness and varies sharply by audience.
-
everyday
Fits when broad informal enthusiasm should sound current and familiar
Careful Awesome is overused and may feel empty without a named quality.
-
professional
Fits when measured praise should avoid slang and name high quality
Careful Excellent says little about the rough, daring character associated with gnarly.
Opposites 3
- lame
- awful
- tame
Common phrases 3
-
gnarly wave
A gnarly wave carried the surfer well beyond the break.
-
gnarly trick
She landed a gnarly trick after weeks of careful practice.
-
gnarly ride
The steep descent made a gnarly ride for experienced cyclists.
Usage notes
Keep in mind
Gnarly has contradictory slang senses, including difficult, dangerous, and unpleasant. Tone and audience must make the positive sense clear.
Definitions and examples are written for this site. How words are chosen Recording: Commander Keane, Australian accent, from Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 Updated