snap

Where “snap” sits in English frequency

Definition

1. 1
   A quick breaking or cracking sound or the action of producing such a sound.
2. 2
   A sudden break.
3. 3
   An attempt to seize, bite, attack, or grab.
4. 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. 5
   A fastening device that makes a snapping sound when used.
6. 6
   A photograph; a snapshot.
7. 7
   The sudden release of something held under pressure or tension.
8. 8
   A thin circular cookie or similar baked good.
9. 9
   A brief, sudden period of a certain weather; used primarily in the phrase cold snap.
10. 10
    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.
11. 11
    A snap bean such as Phaseolus vulgaris.
12. 12
    A backward pass or handoff of a football from its position on the ground that puts the ball in play; a hike.
13. 13
    A rivet: a scrapbooking embellishment.
14. 14
    A small device resembling a safety pin, used to attach the bait or lure to the line.
15. 15
    A small meal, a snack; lunch.
16. 16
    A card game, primarily for children, in which players cry "snap" to claim pairs of matching cards as they are turned up.
17. 17
    A greedy fellow.
18. 18
    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.
19. 19
    Briskness; vigour; energy; decision.
20. 20
    Any circumstance out of which money may be made or an advantage gained. used primarily in the phrase soft snap.
21. 21
    Something that is easy or effortless.
22. 22
    A snapper, or snap beetle.
23. 23
    jounce (the fourth derivative of the position vector with respect to time), followed by crackle and pop
24. 24
    A quick offhand shot with a firearm; a snap shot.
25. 25
    Something of no value.
26. 26
    Alternative letter-case form of Snap.
27. 27
    Alternative letter-case form of Snap.
28. 28
    A package provided for the application sandboxing system snapd developed by Canonical.
29. 29
    A crisp or pithy quality; epigrammatic point or force.
30. 30
    A tool used by riveters.
31. 31
    A tool used by glass-moulders.
32. 32
    A brief theatrical engagement.
33. 33
    A cheat or sharper.
34. 34
    A newsflash.
35. 35
    An insult of the kind used in the African-American verbal game of the dozens.
36. 36
    A subgenre of hip-hop music derived from crunk.

Etymology

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.

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: nsap,sanp,snapp,snnap,snpa,ssnap

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of snap - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

Frequently Asked Questions