snatched
Americanadjective
Etymology
Origin of snatched
First recorded in 1990–95; origin uncertain; possibly from regional American snatching “attractive” (1962); possibly from Black drag culture, where stage performers wear weaves (artificial hairweaves), and if something is amazingly good ( snatched ), it may snatch one's weave off, knock one's socks off (but the connection is unclear)
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He approached, climbed the cottonwood tree and snatched a single pale-blue egg.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 23, 2026
AI still had hopes of victory going into Monday's match, and would have snatched the weekly win if the final score had been 1-1, not 2-2.
From BBC • Mar. 19, 2026
Laura McVay, who works in palliative care at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, said the big cat snatched her brown 5½-year-old, pint-sized shih tzu named Declan around 11:30 p.m. mere “feet away from the door.”
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 25, 2026
A huge yellow crane will bring it up to the summit, which will stand at 172.5 metres and has snatched the record as the world's tallest church from Germany's Ulm Minster.
From Barron's • Feb. 10, 2026
He dropped the hammer and tongs from his hands and snatched a pitchfork from the wall.
From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
