Standard Lemma guide

snowball

adj · name · noun · verb · 19 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈsnəʊbɔːl/
  • General-American: snōʹbôl
  • General-American: /ˈsnoʊbɔl/
  • cot-caught-merger: snōʹbôl
  • cot-caught-merger: /ˈsnoʊbɑl/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: S N OW1 B AO2 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

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

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

name

Meaning 2

A surname transferred from the nickname.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

name

Meaning 3

A locality in the Queanbeyan-Palerang council area, south eastern New South Wales, Australia.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

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.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

A cocktail made from lemonade and advocaat.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

noun

Meaning 6

Something that snowballs (grows rapidly out of control).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: figuratively

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

7

noun

Meaning 7

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

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: lifestyle, sex, sexuality

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

8

noun

Meaning 8

A type of ice dessert: a snow cone.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: US

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

9

noun

Meaning 9

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

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • It didn't take long to eat a packetful of snowballs — they are simply delicious.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

10

verb

Meaning 10

To rapidly grow out of proportion or control, from an initially smaller state.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: figuratively, intransitive

Examples

  • The high unemployment rates quickly snowballed into a major budget problem for the government.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

11

verb

Meaning 11

To play at throwing snowballs.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: intransitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

12

verb

Meaning 12

To pelt with snowballs; to throw snowballs at.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

13

verb

Meaning 13

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.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: intransitive, slang, vulgar

Topics: lifestyle, sex, sexuality

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

14

noun

Meaning 14

snow pressed into a ball for throwing (playfully)

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: ball

15

noun

Meaning 15

ball of crushed ice with fruit syrup

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: frozen dessert

16

noun

Meaning 16

ball of ice cream covered with coconut and usually chocolate sauce

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: frozen dessert

17

noun

Meaning 17

plant having heads of fragrant white trumpet-shaped flowers; grows in sandy arid regions

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: sweet sand verbena, Abronia elliptica

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: sand verbena

18

verb

Meaning 18

increase or accumulate at a rapidly accelerating rate

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: increase

19

verb

Meaning 19

throw snowballs at

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: pelt, bombard

History

Etymology

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 snow + ball, probably a nickname for someone who had a patch of white hair or a pale bald patch, amid dark hair.

Across languages

Translations

106 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: sneeubal — ball of snow
  • Arabic: كُرَةُ الثَّلْج (kuratu ṯ-ṯalj) — ball of snow
  • Armenian: ձնագնդիկ (jnagndik) — ball of snow
  • Basque: elur-bola — ball of snow
  • Belarusian: сне́жка (snjéžka) — ball of snow
  • Belarusian: сьне́жка (sʹnjéžka) — ball of snow
  • Belarusian: сняжо́к (snjažók) — ball of snow
  • Belarusian: сьняжо́к (sʹnjažók) — ball of snow
  • Bengali: তুষারগোলক (tuśargōlok) — ball of snow
  • Breton: pouloudenn erc’h — ball of snow
  • Breton: kouign-erc'h — ball of snow
  • Bulgarian: сне́жна то́пка (snéžna tópka) — ball of snow
  • Catalan: bola de neu — ball of snow
  • Chinese Cantonese: 雪球 (syut3 kau4) — ball of snow
  • Chinese Mandarin: 雪球 (xuěqiú) — ball of snow
  • Czech: sněhová koule — ball of snow
  • Danish: snebold — ball of snow
  • Dutch: sneeuwbal — ball of snow
  • Esperanto: neĝobulo — ball of snow
  • Estonian: lumepall — ball of snow
  • Faroese: kavablak — ball of snow
  • Faroese: kavabóltur — ball of snow
  • Finnish: lumipallo — ball of snow
  • French: boule de neige — ball of snow
  • French: balle de neige — ball of snow
  • Galician: bóla de neve — ball of snow
  • Georgian: თოვლის გუნდა (tovlis gunda) — ball of snow
  • Georgian: გუნდა (gunda) — ball of snow
  • German: Schneeball — ball of snow
  • Greek: χιονόμπαλα (chionómpala) — ball of snow
  • Hebrew: כַּדּוּר שֶׁלֶג (kadúr shéleg) — ball of snow
  • Hindi: स्नोबॉल (snobŏl) — ball of snow
  • Hindi: बर्फ़ का गोला (barf kā golā) — ball of snow
  • Hungarian: hógolyó — ball of snow
  • Icelandic: snjóbolti — ball of snow
  • Ido: nivobulo — ball of snow
  • Indonesian: bola salju — ball of snow
  • Ingrian: lumipallo — ball of snow
  • Ingrian: lumipamppu — ball of snow
  • Irish: liathróid sneachta — ball of snow
  • Irish: meall sneachta — ball of snow
  • Italian: palla di neve — ball of snow
  • Japanese: 雪玉 (yukidama) — ball of snow
  • Japanese: 雪つぶて (yukitsubute) — ball of snow
  • Japanese: 雪だるま (yukidaruma) — ball of snow
  • Kazakh: кесек қар (kesek qar) — ball of snow
  • Kazakh: қар кесегі (qar kesegı) — ball of snow
  • Korean: 눈덩이 (nundeong'i) — ball of snow
  • Korean: 눈뭉치 (nunmungchi) — ball of snow
  • Korean: 스노우볼 (seunoubol) — ball of snow
  • Kyrgyz: кар тогологу (kar togologu) — ball of snow
  • Latgalian: snīga pyks — ball of snow
  • Latin: pila nivis — ball of snow
  • Latin: globus nivis — ball of snow
  • Latvian: sniega pika — ball of snow
  • Lithuanian: sniego gniūžtė — ball of snow
  • Luxembourgish: Schnéiball — ball of snow
  • Luxembourgish: Schnéiklatz — ball of snow
  • Macedonian: снежна топка (snežna topka) — ball of snow
  • Norman: boule dé né — ball of snow
  • Norwegian Bokmål: snøball — ball of snow
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: snøball — ball of snow
  • Iranian Persian: گُلولِهٔ بَرْف (golule-ye barf) — ball of snow
  • Iranian Persian: گُلولِهٔ بَرْفی (golule-ye barfi) — ball of snow
  • Polish: śnieżka — ball of snow
  • Polish: kulka śnieżna — ball of snow
  • Polish: kulka śniegowa — ball of snow
  • Portuguese: bola de neve — ball of snow
  • Romanian: bulgăre de zăpadă — ball of snow
  • Russian: снежо́к (snežók) — ball of snow
  • Russian: сне́жный ком (snéžnyj kom) — ball of snow
  • Serbo-Croatian: gruda — ball of snow
  • Serbo-Croatian: гру̏два — ball of snow
  • Serbo-Croatian: grȕdva — ball of snow
  • Slovak: snehová guľa — ball of snow
  • Slovene: snežna kepa — ball of snow
  • Sotho: bolo ya lehloa — ball of snow
  • Spanish: bola de nieve — ball of snow
  • Spanish: bola nival — ball of snow
  • Spanish: bola nívea — ball of snow
  • Swedish: snöboll — ball of snow
  • Tajik: барфкулӯла (barfkulüla) — ball of snow
  • Thai: ก้อนหิมะ — ball of snow
  • Thai: ก้อนหิมะปั้น — ball of snow
  • Turkish: kar topu — ball of snow
  • Turkish: kartopu — ball of snow
  • Ottoman Turkish: قار طوپی (kar topu) — ball of snow
  • Ukrainian: сні́жка (snížka) — ball of snow
  • Urdu: سْنوبال (snobāl) — ball of snow
  • Urdu: بَرْف کا گولا (barf kā golā) — ball of snow
  • Uyghur: قار توپ (qar top) — ball of snow
  • Uzbek: qor soqqa — ball of snow
  • Vietnamese: hòn tuyết — ball of snow
  • Welsh: pelen eira — ball of snow
  • Finnish: lumipallo — cocktail
  • Japanese: スノーボール (sunōbōru) — cocktail
  • Korean: 스노우볼 (seunoubol) — cocktail
  • Russian: снежо́к (snežók) — cocktail
  • Ukrainian: сні́жка (snížka) — cocktail
  • Finnish: paisua — rapidly grow out of proportion or control
  • Japanese: 雪だるま式に増える (yukidarumashiki ni fueru) — rapidly grow out of proportion or control
  • Finnish: olla lumisotasilla — play at throwing snowballs
  • Finnish: leikkiä lumisotaa — play at throwing snowballs
  • Japanese: 雪合戦をする (yukigassen o suru) — play at throwing snowballs
  • Swedish: ha snöbollskrig — play at throwing snowballs
  • Turkmen: gar zyňyşmak — play at throwing snowballs
Real reading context

snowball in complete knowledge articles