Word.ws English Dictionary

snuba

snuba noun: a combination of snorkeling and scuba diving where the swimmer uses the fins, mask, and breathing apparatus commonly used in scuba diving, but the oxygen tanks usually strapped to the back are instead attached to floating rafts that remain on the water's surface.

snuba: a combination of snorkeling and scuba diving where the swimmer uses the fins, mask, and breathing...
Image: Jim Mayfield, president of Snuba International, Inc, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

snuba (uncountable)

  1. A combination of snorkeling and scuba diving where the swimmer uses the fins, mask, and breathing apparatus commonly used in scuba diving, but the oxygen tanks usually strapped to the back are instead attached to floating rafts that remain on the water's surface.
    • This isn’t scuba, or even snuba, but simply underwater walking!2001, Christie Stilson, Maui and Lanaʻi, Ninth Edition, Prima, page 400
    • One raft will support two snuba-divers. ¶ […] Orientation for the snuba activity is usually about 30 min, followed by a 30-min undersea experience.2008, Charles Hammersley, “Snuba”, in Michael Lück, editor, The Encyclopedia of Tourism and Recreation in Marine Environments, CABI, →ISBN, page 439

Origin of snuba

Blend of snorkel + scuba

Questions about snuba

What does snuba mean?
Snuba means a combination of snorkeling and scuba diving where the swimmer uses the fins, mask, and breathing apparatus commonly used in scuba diving, but the oxygen tanks usually strapped to the back are instead attached to floating rafts that remain on the water's surface.
What part of speech is snuba?
Snuba is a noun.

Words near snuba in the dictionary

  1. SNUB syndrome
  2. snub-nose
  3. snub-nosed
  4. snub-nosed monkey
  5. snub-nosed monkeys
  6. snuba
  7. snubbable
  8. snubbed
  9. snubbee
  10. snubbees
  11. snubber

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: snuba (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.

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Cite this entry: “snuba.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/snuba. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.