snowball
snowball — noun
1. a round mass made by pressing loose snow tightly together with your hands, used
a round mass made by pressing loose snow tightly together with your hands, used for play or for throwing at other people in a game
Yan pressed the fresh snow into a hard snowball and threw it at the fence.
snowball as a direct object of 'press' and 'throw'
A snowball hit Rohan on the shoulder as he walked across the schoolyard.
snowball as subject of 'hit'
The children rolled a giant snowball down the hill until it broke apart.
Making a snowball is much easier when the snow is wet and sticky.
Ada caught the snowball that Beatriz threw toward her and tossed it back.
文法句型
a + snowball
plural: snowballs
用法筆記
The noun is countable: you can have one snowball or several snowballs. Usually associated with children's winter play.
snowball — verb
1. if a situation, problem, activity, or rumour starts small but quickly becomes mu
if a situation, problem, activity, or rumour starts small but quickly becomes much larger, more serious, or more widespread
What began as a friendly debate about music quickly snowballed into a loud argument.
snowball + into + noun phrase
The company's debt snowballed after it borrowed more money to cover earlier losses.
Rumours about the mayor's spending habits snowballed across the whole town within a week.
Without rain for months, the drought continued to snowball, affecting farms all over the region.
A small misunderstanding between the two departments snowballed into a company-wide problem.
文法句型
snowball + into + noun phrase
snowball + from + noun phrase
用法筆記
Frequently used with 'into' to describe the result of the growth. Subject is usually an abstract noun (rumour, problem, argument, debt, conflict). Does not take a direct object.
常見錯誤
2. in a winter game, to hit a person by throwing a ball of packed snow at them
in a winter game, to hit a person by throwing a ball of packed snow at them
The younger kids snowballed each other until their teacher told them to stop.
reciprocal: snowballed each other
Cyrus got snowballed by a group of classmates as soon as he stepped outside.
passive: got snowballed
A few teenagers were snowballing cars that drove slowly along the icy road.
Femi apologised after he accidentally snowballed a neighbour who was clearing her path.
- pelt
more general; to throw things at someone repeatedly, not limited to snow
文法句型
snowball + someone
get snowballed
用法筆記
Unlike verb sense 1 (GROW QUICKLY), this sense always involves literal snow. Often used in the past continuous or passive. The subject is typically a person or group of people.