British, Australian, and New Zealand slang for a traffic jam — a tangle of vehicles that has brought movement to a halt. By extension it can mean any kind of organizational or procedural mess that has caused everything to slow down or stop. The 'snarl' element evokes tangled threads or an animal baring its teeth — something knotted and stuck. Common in everyday spoken and written English in those regions.
There was a massive snarl-up on the motorway and she sat in it for two hours.
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(UK, Australian, NZ) A traffic jam.
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Regional slang from around the English-speaking world — British, Australian, Irish, Caribbean, Nigerian, Filipino, AAVE, and the hyphenated-English dialects that make the internet sound local.
See all Regional & Other slang on Slangora.