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snap

noun · verb · adjective

Simple meaning

A quick breaking or cracking sound or producing such a sound.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

snap
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈsnæp

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. A quick breaking or cracking sound or the action of producing such a sound.

  2. An attempt to seize, bite, attack, or grab.

  3. A sudden break.

  4. The act of snapping the fingers; making a sound by pressing a finger against the thumb and suddenly releasing to strike the hand.

  5. A fastening device that makes a snapping sound when used.

  6. A brief, sudden period of a certain weather; used primarily in the phrase cold snap.

verb

  1. Break suddenly and abruptly, as under tension

  2. intransitivetransitive

    To fracture or break apart suddenly.

  3. intransitive

    To give forth or produce a sharp cracking noise; to crack.

  4. intransitive

    To attempt to seize or bite with the teeth, beak, etc.

  5. intransitive

    To attempt to seize with eagerness.

  6. intransitive

    To speak abruptly or sharply.

adjective

  1. informalattributive

    Done, made, performed, etc., quickly and unexpectedly, or without deliberation.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A quick breaking or cracking sound or the action of producing such a sound.

Used this way, snap is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Nearby words

  • click , used mainly in Regional English

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Quick / fastening

snap ring

Brief / short

cold snap

Other combinations

snap beanssnap judgmentsobject snapopening snap

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • snappernounInflected form

    The person who plays center on the line of scrimmage and snaps the ball to the quarterback.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • snap brimnounCompound term

    A brim that can be turned up and down on opposite sides.

  • snap-brim hatnounCompound term

    A hat with a snap brim.

  • snap fastenernounCompound term

    A fastener used on clothing.

  • snap linenounCompound term

    A chalked string used in the building trades to make a straight line on a vertical surface.

  • snap offverbCompound term

    Break a piece from a whole.

  • snap peanounCompound term

    Variety of pea plant producing peas having crisp rounded edible pods.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: quick breaking or cracking sound

clickRegionaltearrupture

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.