sneak.
One who sneaks; one who moves stealthily to acquire an item or information.
Meaning & usage
One who sneaks; one who moves stealthily to acquire an item or information.
My little brother is such a sneak; yesterday I caught him trying to look through my diary.
The act of sneaking
A cheat; a con artist.
I can't believe I gave that sneak $50 for a ticket when they were selling for $20 at the front gate.
An informer; a tell-tale.
A ball bowled so as to roll along the ground; a daisy-cutter
A sneaker; a tennis shoe.
A play where the quarterback receives the snap and immediately dives forward.
Ellipsis of sneak preview
An unworthy or deceptive entry in a list of high-ranking people or things.
Where this word comes from
Possibly from Middle English sniken (“to creep, crawl”), from Old English snīcan (“to creep, crawl”), from Proto-West Germanic *snīkan, from Proto-Germanic *snīkaną (“to creep, crawl”), of sound-symbolic origin; compare formally unrelated snake, snoop, snook, snoke, and snoot. Cognate with Danish snige (“to sneak”), Swedish snika (“to sneak, hanker after”), Icelandic sníkja (“to sneak, hanker after”). Possibly related to snitch.
To creep or go stealthily; to come or go while trying to avoid detection, as a person who does not wish to be seen.
He decided to sneak into the kitchen for a second cookie while his mom was on the phone.
To take (something) in a surreptitious manner, so as to avoid being noticed.
I went to sneak a chocolate but my dad caught me.
To stealthily bring someone something.
She asked me to sneak her a phone next month.
To hide, especially in a mean or cowardly manner.
To inform an authority of another's misdemeanours.
If you sneak on me I'll bash you!
Where this word comes from
Possibly from Middle English sniken (“to creep, crawl”), from Old English snīcan (“to creep, crawl”), from Proto-West Germanic *snīkan, from Proto-Germanic *snīkaną (“to creep, crawl”), of sound-symbolic origin; compare formally unrelated snake, snoop, snook, snoke, and snoot. Cognate with Danish snige (“to sneak”), Swedish snika (“to sneak, hanker after”), Icelandic sníkja (“to sneak, hanker after”). Possibly related to snitch.
In advance; before release to the general public.
The company gave us a sneak look at their new electronic devices.
In a stealthy or surreptitious manner.
I was able to get a sneak peek at the guest list.
Where this word comes from
Possibly from Middle English sniken (“to creep, crawl”), from Old English snīcan (“to creep, crawl”), from Proto-West Germanic *snīkan, from Proto-Germanic *snīkaną (“to creep, crawl”), of sound-symbolic origin; compare formally unrelated snake, snoop, snook, snoke, and snoot. Cognate with Danish snige (“to sneak”), Swedish snika (“to sneak, hanker after”), Icelandic sníkja (“to sneak, hanker after”). Possibly related to snitch.
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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.