Definition of "gnarly" []

• Gnarled; misshapen. (adjective)
• Slang Remarkable; outstanding. (adjective)
• Slang Unpleasant; disgusting. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "A tube can be rigged to reach bass in gnarly cover, to pick off cruisers in open water, or to coax strikes from even the most finicky bedding bass."
• ""I know you don't hear the word gnarly too much in conservative circles, but you're gonna start hearing it in the future!" the 44-year-old ex-actor told a crowd of about 200 assembled youths."
• "Thea Andrews, joking, "1891 Victorian England was a petty gnarly place -- I like that I actually got the word gnarly in a Victorian description.""