English

Adjective

gnarly ‎(comparative gnarlier, superlative gnarliest)

1. having or characterized by gnarls; gnarled
   • 1901, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Yellow Wall Paper:

     Out of one window I can see the garden, those mysterious deep-shaded arbors, the riotous old-fashioned flowers, and bushes and gnarly trees.

2. (US slang) dangerous; difficult
   • When the swell struck, the North Shore got gnarly, and the wise ones hit the outer islands where the energy was just as juicy but a bit more organized. — Surfer Magazine, March 1977
   • 2008, Avram Joel Spolsky, More Joel on Software, Apress (ISBN 9781430209881), page 152

     Work that makes you unhappy is what I mean by “a gnarly problem.” The trouble is, the market pays for solutions to gnarly problems, not solutions to easy problems. As the Yorkshire lads say, “Where there's muck, there's brass.” We offer both  […]

   a gnarly problem‎

3. (US slang) unpleasant, awful, ugly
   • We're not talking about a lame chick and a gnarly guy. We're talking about a couple of far-out dudes. — D. Jenkins, Baja Oklahoma
4. (slang) excellent, attractive
   • "There ain't nothing gnarlier (apparently) than slapping on some brightly coloured sunblock to ward off the blinding spectre of dangerous, snow-reflected sunlight. — Glasgow Sunday Herald, 16 January 2000
5. (US slang) Of music or a sound, harsh
   • "[She] displays the same love of gnarly fuzztones and shout-it-out-loud choruses that began back in her daze [sic] with local all-girl rockers the Runaways. — Los Angeles Times, 12 October 1986

Usage notes

Note the contradictory senses of “good” and “bad”. Meaning varies by community and context, and may be indicated by extra-verbal cues, such as tone of voice. Sense of “good” particularly associated with surf culture, to the point of being somewhat clichéd, as in “gnarly wave, dude!”.

Synonyms

• (gnarled): gnarled, knobbly, knobby
• (slang: unpleasant, awful): awful, dreadful, nasty
• (slang: excellent, attractive): cool
• (harsh (of music or sound)): discordant

Translations

References

1. ↑ “gnarly” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary (2001).