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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

snare.

A trap (especially one made from a loop of wire, string, or leather).

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/snɛ(ə)ɹ/General-American/snɛə/Received-Pronunciation/sneː/Australia/sneə/New-Zealand
  1. A trap (especially one made from a loop of wire, string, or leather).

  2. A mental or psychological trap.

  3. A loop of cord used in obstetric cases, to hold or to pull a fetus from the mother animal.

  4. A similar looped instrument formerly used to remove tumours etc.

  5. A set of stiff wires held under tension against the bottom head of a drum to create a rattling sound.

  6. A snare drum.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English snare, from Old English sneare (“snare, noose”), from Proto-West Germanic *snarhā, from Proto-Germanic *snarhǭ (“a sling; loop; noose”). Cognate with Old Norse snara. Also related to German Schnur and Dutch snaar, snoer.

verb/snɛ(ə)ɹ/General-American/snɛə/Received-Pronunciation/sneː/Australia/sneə/New-Zealand
  1. To catch or hold, especially with a loop.

    transitive
  2. To ensnare.

    figuratively · transitive
  3. To play (a snare drum, or a beat on or as if on a snare drum).

    intransitive · transitive · uncommon
Where this word comes from

From Middle English snare, from Old English sneare (“snare, noose”), from Proto-West Germanic *snarhā, from Proto-Germanic *snarhǭ (“a sling; loop; noose”). Cognate with Old Norse snara. Also related to German Schnur and Dutch snaar, snoer.

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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.