Any word which does not express a clear meaning or a distinction among phenomena in the real world, but rather serves to express anger, rage, condemnation, or indignation towards the person or thing described. Human beings use snarl words not to clearly communicate statements of fact, but rather to make it clear that they are pissed off -- or to get you pissed off along with them.

Sometime social commentator Robert Anton Wilson has pointed out that it is impossible to have a conversation about the politics of censorship with a person who keeps using the word "smut", or a discussion of racial issues with a person who keeps saying "nigger". His point is not that such words should be banned, but that the language of piss-off-itude is not conducive to reasonable discourse.

A word may become a snarl word not through its original denotation, but through its use to stereotype, accuse, or attack. For instance, "communist", "fascist", and "anarchist" are words with perfectly viable dictionary definitions. However, they are much more often used to slur people who do not fit these definitions, than used to refer to people who actually fit those categories.

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