How to Use hangnail in a Sentence

hangnail

noun
  • Daily wear and tear lead to hangnails and snags, and polish and gel changes can weaken your tips over time.
    — Emily Rekstis, Glamour, 20 Apr. 2019
  • One Christmas Eve, a nun had stayed late to file a hangnail on Bertha’s foot.
    — Yasmin Rafiei, The New Yorker, 25 Aug. 2022
  • The sun had long set, beavers had already exited their lodge for a night of foraging and a hangnail moon hung in the pitch black sky.
    — Paighten Harkins, The Salt Lake Tribune, 8 Sep. 2022
  • Because dry air can cause hangnails on the cuticles of our toenails, just like on our fingernails.
    — Megan Decker, refinery29.com, 5 Jan. 2024
  • Instead, at a minimum, any player with a hangnail or blister on his thumb is slapped with the questionable tag.
    — Bill Enright, SI.com, 4 Sep. 2019
  • But the truth is that the MCU has always had hangnails, and its world-building has never made much sense.
    — Noah Berlatsky, The Verge, 8 July 2019
  • His walleyed, foul-smelling, hangnail of a classics teacher charts a course toward redemption, and the ride is enjoyable.
    — Bill Goodykoontz, The Arizona Republic, 6 Mar. 2024
  • Failing to care for your nails correctly could lead to brittle nail beds, painful hangnails and issues that extend beyond your fingers and toes.
    — Andee Tagle, NPR, 21 Feb. 2026
  • Rub cuticle oil wherever the skin meets the nail, then use a nail pusher to push back the skin around the nail to get rid of the dead skin that can morph into a hangnail.
    — Donna Bulseco, WSJ, 2 May 2018
  • Everybody has them, especially in the modern era, when hangnails get you on the IL.
    — Nick Canepa, San Diego Union-Tribune, 6 Sep. 2025
  • This is a chronic hangnail infection that damages fingernails or toenails.
    — Mark Gurarie, Health, 9 Oct. 2024
  • The builder gel keeps your nails from breaking as easily, which is helpful if growing your nails out past tip length (and not having to deal with hangnails) is your ultimate goal.
    — Sabrina Talbert, Women's Health, 13 July 2023
  • Next to the headphone jack, the microUSB port is hidden beneath a push-to-open plastic slot that’s just begging to get ripped off like a hangnail.
    — Christina Bonnington, WIRED, 29 Nov. 2011
  • Rich, lightweight formulas with a fast-absorbing finish will not only reduce hangnails, but result in longer, stronger, healthier nails.
    — India Espy-Jones, Essence, 22 Aug. 2023
  • Cuticle Buddy, a genius little nail and skin oil, strengthens nails and cuticles, stimulates growth, and prevents breakage and hangnails.
    — Hillary Maglin, Travel + Leisure, 14 Aug. 2023
  • This compact stainless steel manicure set comes travel-ready, and features maintenance basics like clippers, a file, mini cuticle pusher, and hangnail snipper.
    — Tiffany Dodson, Harper's BAZAAR, 19 July 2022
  • Rodriguez, 30, has a left index finger pulley rupture, while Faedo, 27, has right middle finger discomfort from a hangnail.
    — Evan Petzold, Detroit Free Press, 5 June 2023
  • Aesthetic and psychological concerns aside, nail psoriasis can also become physically uncomfortable and even painful to live with—on a whole other level than when a toe hangnail catches on your sheets.
    — Petra Guglielmetti, Glamour, 13 Feb. 2023
  • For a guy with a hyperextended knee, Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo played like someone who didn't even have a hangnail.
    — Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 7 July 2021
  • This beginner-friendly Tweezerman rescue kit, with tools like the Mini Cuticle Nipper to snip hangnails, helps extend my nail art's lifeline, which is especially important when breakage looms while traveling.
    — Jackie Fields, PEOPLE, 1 June 2026
  • This year's sleeper hit is The Bad Foot Clinic, which embeds you deep like a hangnail into the practice of podiatrist Marion Yao at the Harley Medical Foot and Nail Laser Clinic in London.
    — K. Thor Jensen, PC Magazine, 1 May 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'hangnail.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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