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sneak

noun · verb · adjective

Simple meaning

Someone who prowls or sneaks about.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

sneek
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈsnik

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. Someone who prowls or sneaks about; usually with unlawful intentions

  2. One who sneaks; one who moves stealthily to acquire an item or information.

  3. A cheat; a con artist.

  4. The act of sneaking

  5. Someone acting as an informer or decoy for the police

  6. An informer; a tell-tale.

verb

  1. To go stealthily or furtively

    “..stead of sneaking around spying on the neighbor's house.”

  2. Pass on stealthily

  3. intransitive

    To creep or go stealthily; to come or go while trying to avoid detection, as a person who does not wish to be seen.

  4. transitive

    To take something stealthily without permission.

  5. intransitiveinformalwith on

    To inform an authority of another's misdemeanours.

adjective

  1. In advance; before release to the general public.

  2. In a stealthy or surreptitious manner.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C1 · Advanced
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
Neutral / general English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Someone who prowls or sneaks about; usually with unlawful intentions

Used this way, sneak is a specialist word with a faintly unfavourable edge. It turns up most in technical or specialist writing contexts.

Emotional tone
Slightly negative
Formality
Specialist/technical
Intensity
Moderate
How common
Specialized
Connotation
Critical or judgemental
Usage feel
Clinical and detached

Where it naturally appears

  • Technical/specialist writing

Usage note

In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.

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

More ways to use sneak

  • “..stead of sneaking around spying on the neighbor's house.”verb

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Prowls

sneak thief

Early

sneak previewsneak peek

Other combinations

sneak attacksneak past

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • sneakernounInflected form

    A canvas shoe with a pliable rubber sole.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • sneak offverbCompound term

    Leave furtively and stealthily.

  • sneak outverbCompound term

    Leave furtively and stealthily.

  • sneak previewnounCompound term

    A preview to test audience reactions.

  • sneak thiefnounCompound term

    A thief who steals without using violence.

  • sneak upverbCompound term

    Advance stealthily or unnoticed.

  • sneak awayverbCompound term

    Leave furtively and stealthily.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

noun

Sense: someone who prowls or sneaks about

prowler

verb

Sense: to go stealthily or furtively

pussyfootRare

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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.