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Added 9 October 2026

snowball

/ˈsnəʊbɔːl/ noun

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about snowball at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

A ball of snow, usually one made in the hand and thrown for amusement in a snowball fight; also a larger ball of snow made by rolling a snowball around in snow that sticks to it and increases its diameter.
A cocktail made from lemonade and advocaat.
Something that snowballs (grows rapidly out of control).

adjective

Of something with rapid growth, often uncontrolled. Compare snowball effect.

verb

To rapidly grow out of proportion or control, from an initially smaller state.
The high unemployment rates quickly snowballed into a major budget problem for the government.
To play at throwing snowballs.
To pelt with snowballs; to throw snowballs at.

Origin

From Middle English snoweball, snoweballe, snaweballe, snayballe, equivalent to snow + ball. Cognate with Scots snawbaw, German Schneeball, Luxembourgish Schnéiball, Dutch sneeuwbal, Afrikaans sneeubal, Limburgish snieëbal, West Frisian sniebal, Saterland Frisian Sneebaal, Sneebal, Swedish snöboll, Elfdalian sniųoboll, Danish snebold, Norwegian Bokmål snøball, Norwegian Nynorsk snøball and Icelandic snjóbolti.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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