snap.
A quick breaking or cracking sound or the action of producing such a sound.
Meaning & usage
A quick breaking or cracking sound or the action of producing such a sound.
A sudden break.
An attempt to seize, bite, attack, or grab.
The act of snapping the fingers; making a sound by pressing a finger against the thumb and suddenly releasing to strike the hand.
A fastening device that makes a snapping sound when used.
A photograph; a snapshot.
We took a few snaps of the old church before moving on.
The sudden release of something held under pressure or tension.
A thin circular cookie or similar baked good.
a ginger snap
A brief, sudden period of a certain weather; used primarily in the phrase cold snap.
A very short period of time (figuratively, the time taken to snap one's fingers), or a task that can be accomplished in such a period.
It'll be a snap to get that finished.
I can fix most vacuum cleaners in a snap.
A snap bean such as Phaseolus vulgaris.
A backward pass or handoff of a football from its position on the ground that puts the ball in play; a hike.
A rivet: a scrapbooking embellishment.
A small device resembling a safety pin, used to attach the bait or lure to the line.
A small meal, a snack; lunch.
A card game, primarily for children, in which players cry "snap" to claim pairs of matching cards as they are turned up.
A greedy fellow.
That which is, or may be, snapped up; something bitten off, seized, or obtained by a single quick movement; hence, a bite, morsel, or fragment; a scrap.
Briskness; vigour; energy; decision.
Any circumstance out of which money may be made or an advantage gained. used primarily in the phrase soft snap.
Something that is easy or effortless.
A snapper, or snap beetle.
jounce (the fourth derivative of the position vector with respect to time), followed by crackle and pop
A quick offhand shot with a firearm; a snap shot.
Something of no value.
not worth a snap
Alternative letter-case form of Snap. A visual message sent through the Snapchat application.
Alternative letter-case form of Snap. Clipping of Snapchat (“user account on Snapchat”).
A package provided for the application sandboxing system snapd developed by Canonical.
A crisp or pithy quality; epigrammatic point or force.
A tool used by riveters.
A tool used by glass-moulders.
A brief theatrical engagement.
A cheat or sharper.
A newsflash.
An insult of the kind used in the African-American verbal game of the dozens.
A subgenre of hip-hop music derived from crunk.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Middle Dutch snappen Dutch snappenbor. Low German snappenbor. English snap From Dutch snappen (“to bite; seize”) or Low German snappen (“to bite; seize”), ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *snappōn, from Proto-Germanic *snappōną (“to snap; snatch; chatter”), intensive form of *snapāną (”to snap; grab”, whence Old Norse snapa (“to get; scrounge”)), from Proto-Indo-European *snop-; compare Lithuanian snãpas (“beak, bill”). (One alternative hypothesis links the Germanic words to *snu-, an expressive root deriving words meaning “nose”, “snout”, “sniff” etc., but this is phonetically unsound.) In any case influenced by onomatopoeia; note expressions such as snip-snap, containing the formally unrelated snip. Cognate with West Frisian snappe (“to get; catch; snap”), German schnappen (“to grab”), Swedish snappa (“to snatch”). The verb is derived from the noun.
To fracture or break apart suddenly.
He snapped his stick in anger.
If you bend it too much, it will snap.
To give forth or produce a sharp cracking noise; to crack.
Blazing firewood snaps.
To attempt to seize or bite with the teeth, beak, etc.
A dog snaps at a passenger. A fish snaps at the bait.
To attempt to seize with eagerness.
She snapped at the chance to appear on television.
To speak abruptly or sharply.
He snapped at me for the slightest mistake.
To give way abruptly and loudly.
To suffer a mental breakdown, usually while under tension.
She should take a break before she snaps.
To flash or appear to flash as with light.
To fit or fasten together with a snapping sound.
To jump to a fixed position relative to another element.
The floating toolbar will snap to the edge of the screen when dragged towards it.
To snatch with or as if with the teeth.
To pull apart with a snapping sound; to pop loose.
To say abruptly or sharply.
To speak to abruptly or sharply; to treat snappishly; usually with up.
To cause something to emit a snapping sound, especially by closing it rapidly.
to snap a fastener
to snap a whip
To close something using a snap as a fastener.
To snap one's fingers: to make a snapping sound, often by pressing the thumb and an opposing finger of the same hand together and suddenly releasing the grip so that the finger hits against the palm; alternatively, by bringing the index finger quickly down onto the middle finger and thumb.
To cause to move suddenly and smartly.
To move or shift suddenly.
The soldiers snapped to attention as the colonel entered the room.
To take a photograph; to release a camera's shutter (which may make a snapping sound).
He snapped a picture of me with my mouth open and my eyes closed.
Alternative letter-case form of Snap (“to send a visual message through the Snapchat application”).
To put (a football) in play by a backward pass or handoff from its position on the ground; to hike (a football).
He can snap the ball to a back twenty yards behind him.
To misfire.
The gun snapped.
To catch out sharply (a batsman who has just snicked a bowled ball).
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Middle Dutch snappen Dutch snappenbor. Low German snappenbor. English snap From Dutch snappen (“to bite; seize”) or Low German snappen (“to bite; seize”), ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *snappōn, from Proto-Germanic *snappōną (“to snap; snatch; chatter”), intensive form of *snapāną (”to snap; grab”, whence Old Norse snapa (“to get; scrounge”)), from Proto-Indo-European *snop-; compare Lithuanian snãpas (“beak, bill”). (One alternative hypothesis links the Germanic words to *snu-, an expressive root deriving words meaning “nose”, “snout”, “sniff” etc., but this is phonetically unsound.) In any case influenced by onomatopoeia; note expressions such as snip-snap, containing the formally unrelated snip. Cognate with West Frisian snappe (“to get; catch; snap”), German schnappen (“to grab”), Swedish snappa (“to snatch”). The verb is derived from the noun.
The cry used in a game of snap when winning a hand.
"I've got one the same!", "Me too!"
Snap! We've both got pink buckets and spades.
Used to express agreement.
Used in place of an expletive to express surprise, usually in response to a negative statement or news; often used facetiously.
I just ran over your phone with my car. —Oh, snap!
Used after something is said by two people at exactly the same time.
—Wasn't that John? —Wasn't that John? —Snap!
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Middle Dutch snappen Dutch snappenbor. Low German snappenbor. English snap From Dutch snappen (“to bite; seize”) or Low German snappen (“to bite; seize”), ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *snappōn, from Proto-Germanic *snappōną (“to snap; snatch; chatter”), intensive form of *snapāną (”to snap; grab”, whence Old Norse snapa (“to get; scrounge”)), from Proto-Indo-European *snop-; compare Lithuanian snãpas (“beak, bill”). (One alternative hypothesis links the Germanic words to *snu-, an expressive root deriving words meaning “nose”, “snout”, “sniff” etc., but this is phonetically unsound.) In any case influenced by onomatopoeia; note expressions such as snip-snap, containing the formally unrelated snip. Cognate with West Frisian snappe (“to get; catch; snap”), German schnappen (“to grab”), Swedish snappa (“to snatch”). The verb is derived from the noun.
Done, made, performed, etc., quickly and unexpectedly, or without deliberation.
a snap judgment or decision
a snap political convention
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Middle Dutch snappen Dutch snappenbor. Low German snappenbor. English snap From Dutch snappen (“to bite; seize”) or Low German snappen (“to bite; seize”), ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *snappōn, from Proto-Germanic *snappōną (“to snap; snatch; chatter”), intensive form of *snapāną (”to snap; grab”, whence Old Norse snapa (“to get; scrounge”)), from Proto-Indo-European *snop-; compare Lithuanian snãpas (“beak, bill”). (One alternative hypothesis links the Germanic words to *snu-, an expressive root deriving words meaning “nose”, “snout”, “sniff” etc., but this is phonetically unsound.) In any case influenced by onomatopoeia; note expressions such as snip-snap, containing the formally unrelated snip. Cognate with West Frisian snappe (“to get; catch; snap”), German schnappen (“to grab”), Swedish snappa (“to snatch”). The verb is derived from the noun.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.