snip
/snɪp/
snip verb: to cut with short sharp actions, as with scissors.
Verb
snip (third-person singular simple present snips, present participle snipping, simple past and past participle snipped)
- To cut with short sharp actions, as with scissors.
- I don't want you to take much hair off; just snip my mullet off.
- To reduce the price of a product, to create a snip.
- To break off; to snatch away.
- [T]he Captain ſeldom ordered any thing out of the Ship's Stores, […] but I ſnipt ſome of it for my own Share.1720, [Daniel Defoe], The Life, Adventures, and Pyracies, of the Famous Captain Singleton, London: […] J[ohn] Brotherton, […], J[ohn] Graves […], A[nne] Dodd, […], and T[homas] Warner, […], →OCLC...
- To circumcise.
- Circumcised fathers face a special problem. Do you want your son's willy to be that radically different from your own? So, parents should perhaps not be put off. Be good to your son's future lovers and have him snipped.2001, David Cohen, The Father's Book: Being a Good Dad in the 21st Century, John WIley & Sons Ltd, published 2001, →ISBN, page 72
- His children, however, were not snipped, possibly because Princess Diana was opposed to the practice, which is out of fashion in England.2008, Ilene Schneider, Talk Dirty Yiddish: Beyond Drek: The Curses, Slang, and Street Lingo You Need to Know When You Speak Yiddish, Adams Media, published 2008, →ISBN, page 150
- To perform a vasectomy.
- To remove the irrelevant parts of quotations in the reply message.
- To speak or say in a snippish manner.
- "No, Jo, it wasn't one bit crowded, there was room enought ^([sic]) for everyone," she burbled on. "And we were there, and all these other wymeen too, of all shapes, sizes, and colors..."
"Hmpgh! Very politically correct!" Jo snipped.1980 August 16, Andrea Loewenstein, “Random Lust”, in Gay Community News, volume 8, number 5, page 19
- "No, Jo, it wasn't one bit crowded, there was room enought ^([sic]) for everyone," she burbled on. "And we were there, and all these other wymeen too, of all shapes, sizes, and colors..."
Noun
snip (plural snips)
- The act of snipping; cutting a small amount off of something.
- A single cut with scissors, clippers, or similar tool.
- A small amount of something; a pinch.
- A piece cut out by snipping.
- It was true about the fanmaking; the table and floor were littered with snips of paper.1967, Elizabeth George Speare, The Prospering, page 293
- Something acquired for a low price; a bargain.
- That wholesale auction lot was a snip at $10.
- A vasectomy.
- A small or weak person, especially a young one.
- 'Might as well come out now, you little snip, from wherever you be hiding!'2010, Ellen Renner, Castle of Shadows, Hachette UK, published 2010, →ISBN
- Removal of the irrelevant parts of quotations in the reply message.
- His snips of my post included : […]2002 July 24, Joe Parente, “Ronald Reagan - a great, mediocre or bad president?”, in alt.fan.ronald-reagan (Usenet)
- Now then, please explain how Jeff's snip managed to keep my point intact. […] I posted a valid argument that he still snipped. You made the claim that his snips were honest removals of "silly and superfluous" points, […]2003 July 23, John Hattan, “I just toured alt.atheism -- What a load of hooey.”, in alt.atheism (Usenet)
- Synonyms:
- snippage, snippectomy, snipping
- An act or sound of snipping, the sound produced by scissors.
- An impertinent or mischievous person.
- Nor was the lady's establishment more fortunate in gaining the regard of the household. The maid was a verjuiced spinster, too old to love herself, and too ill-natured to look on. The footman was a regular snip […]1835, William Hamilton Maxwell, My Life, page 283
- A share or portion; a snack.
- His Third Query is a Frank Proposal, without any more ado, of taking all the Church Lands into the Crown; and Courteously he offers the Poor Cavaliers a Snip in the Booty1680, Roger L'Estrange, The Free-Born Subject, Or, the Englishmans Birthright Asserted Against All Tyrannical Vsvrpations Either in Church or State
- A tailor.
- […] you fool, why did you let out that you were a snip?"
"I am not ashamed of my trade.”1850, Charles Kingsley, Alton Locke
- […] you fool, why did you let out that you were a snip?"
- A white marking on a horse's muzzle, between the nostrils.
snip meaning in Tamil, Bengali, Malayalam and Kannada
snip in Tamil
- நறுக்கு
snip in Bengali
- কাঁচি দিয়ে কাটা, ছাঁটা
snip in Malayalam
- clip, cut, snick
- ചുറുക്കനെ മുറിക്കുക, മുറിക്കുക, വെട്ടുക, നുറുക്കുക, വെട്ടിമാറ്റുക, നീളത്തിൽ കീറുക
- trim (off), cut off, clip
- വെട്ടിക്കളയുക, വെട്ടിമാറ്റുക, കൊമ്പുകൾ കോതിഒതുക്കുക, അറുത്തുനീക്കുക, തറിക്കുക, വേർപെടുത്തുക
- snick, cut, slit
- നുറുക്കൽ, കത്രിക്കൽ, വെട്ട്, ഛേദനം, വിലോപനം, കീറ്
- snippet, scrap, cutting
- ഖണ്ഡം, തുണ്ട്, നുറുക്ക്, കഷണം, ചീന്ത്, മുറിച്ചെടുത്ത ഭാഗം
snip in Kannada
- ಕಿರುಕಡಿತ, ಕಡಿತದ ಸಪ್ಪಳ, ಕಡಿದ ತುಂಡು, ಹೆಗ್ಗತ್ತರಿ, ಚಕಚಕನೆ ತುಂಡಿಸು
Examples of snip in a sentence
- Push the snipped end of the piping bag through each slit into the bun.
- Snip, snip, snip, I went, and watched it tumble to the floor.
- He goes, "A snippy snip here, and a snippy snip there—that will be 30 dollars, please."
Synonyms of snip
Forms of snip
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | snips |
| present participle | snipping |
| past participle | snipped |
| past | snipped |
| Noun | |
| plural | snips |
Origin of snip
From Dutch snippen (“to snip; shred”) or Low German snippen (“to snip; shred”), of imitative origin. Compare snap.
Words formed from snip
Words that rhyme with snip
39 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about snip
- What does snip mean?
- Snip means to cut with short sharp actions, as with scissors.
- What is snip in Tamil?
- Snip in Tamil is நறுக்கு. See Snip meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is snip?
- Snip can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce snip?
- Snip is pronounced /snɪp/.
- What is the past tense of snip?
- The past tense of snip is snipped.
Words near snip in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: snip (page history and authors); snip (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); snip (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); snip (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); snip (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-snip.ogg.
Cite this entry: “snip.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/snip. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.