gnarly

[ nahr-lee ]

/ ˈnɑr li /

gnarled.

Slang. distasteful; distressing; offensive; gross: a comic noted for his gnarly humor.

Origin of gnarly

First recorded in 1820–30; gnarl¹ + -y¹

gnarl·i·ness, noun

gn, gnamma hole, gnar, gnarl, gnarled, gnarly, gnash, gnash one's teeth, gnashers, gnat, gnatcatcher

A helicopter hovered overhead, catching every second of the gnarly ride.

Top Five Biggest Surfer Waves (Video) |The Daily Beast |November 14, 2011 |DAILY BEAST
Work, especially, sees you getting kinks out of gnarly systems and operations.

Horoscopes: The Week of March 27 |Starsky + Cox |March 26, 2011 |DAILY BEAST
Charred palm trees loomed over the road like gnarly fingers up through the ground.

My Surreal Return to Iraq |Louise Roug Bokkenheuser |August 21, 2010 |DAILY BEAST
The individual thus addressed slowly rose out of his chair, exhibiting a squat, gnarly figure surmounted by a very large head.

The Clarion |Samuel Hopkins Adams

The latter had been shaved and smoothed over every gnarly place.

The Girls of Central High Aiding the Red Cross |Gertrude W. Morrison
Her neck, far too liberally exhibited, resembled nothing so much as the stem of an ill-conditioned, gnarly young olive tree.

The British Expedition to the Crimea |William Howard Russell
If the horn is not cut close enough to the head, an irregular, gnarly growth of horn is liable to follow.

Special Report on Diseases of Cattle |U.S. Department of Agriculture
Back of it opened a hillside brown with dead ferns, dotted with great solitary firs and gnarly branched arbutus.

Poor Man's Rock |Bertrand W. Sinclair

gnarly

/ (ˈnɑːlɪ) /

another word for gnarled

NZ informal good; great

surfing slang difficult and dangerous