overwordExplorer
ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

snowball.

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.

8 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈsnəʊbɔːl/Received-Pronunciation/ˈsnoʊbɔl/General-American/ˈsnoʊbɑl/cot-caught-merger
  1. 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.

  2. A cocktail made from lemonade and advocaat.

  3. Something that snowballs (grows rapidly out of control).

    figuratively
  4. A sex act involving passing ejaculated semen from one person's mouth to another's.

  5. A type of ice dessert: a snow cone.

    US
  6. A small cake, typically cream-filled and covered in chocolate icing and desiccated coconut.

    It didn't take long to eat a packetful of snowballs — they are simply delicious.
Where this word comes from

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.

adj/ˈsnəʊbɔːl/Received-Pronunciation/ˈsnoʊbɔl/General-American/ˈsnoʊbɑl/cot-caught-merger
  1. Of something with rapid growth, often uncontrolled. Compare snowball effect.

    not-comparable
Where this word comes from

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.

verb/ˈsnəʊbɔːl/Received-Pronunciation/ˈsnoʊbɔl/General-American/ˈsnoʊbɑl/cot-caught-merger
  1. To rapidly grow out of proportion or control, from an initially smaller state.

    figuratively · intransitive
    The high unemployment rates quickly snowballed into a major budget problem for the government.
  2. To play at throwing snowballs.

    intransitive
  3. To pelt with snowballs; to throw snowballs at.

    transitive
  4. To receive ejaculated semen in one's mouth, and to then pass it back and forth between one’s mouth and another person’s mouth.

    intransitive · slang · vulgar
Where this word comes from

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 WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

snowball has 8 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

snowball studiosnowball workshello, snowball

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.