snare

¹ American  

[snair] / snɛər /

noun

1. a device, often consisting of a noose, for capturing small game.

2. anything serving to entrap or entangle unawares; trap.

   Synonyms:

   pitfall, net

3. Surgery. a wire noose for removing tumors or the like by the roots or at the base.

---

verb (used with object)

snared, snaring

1. to catch with a snare; entangle.

2. to catch or involve by trickery or wile.

   to snare her into going.

snare ² American  

[snair] / snɛər /

noun

1. one of the strings of gut or of tightly spiraled metal stretched across the skin of a snare drum.

---

snare ¹ British  

/ snɛə /

noun

1. a device for trapping birds or small animals, esp a flexible loop that is drawn tight around the prey

2. a surgical instrument for removing certain tumours, consisting of a wire loop that may be drawn tight around their base to sever or uproot them

3. anything that traps or entangles someone or something unawares

---

verb

1. to catch (birds or small animals) with a snare

2. to catch or trap in or as if in a snare; capture by trickery

snare ² British  

/ snɛə /

noun

1. music a set of gut strings wound with wire fitted against the lower drumhead of a snare drum. They produce a rattling sound when the drum is beaten See snare drum

---

Synonym Usage

See trap ¹.

Other Word Forms

• snareless
  adjective
• snarer
  noun
• snaringly
  adverb
• unsnared
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of snare¹

First recorded before 1100; Middle English (noun and verb); cognate with Old Norse snara, Middle Low German snare, Old High German snar(a)ha

Origin of snare²

1680–90; < Middle Low German snare or Middle Dutch snaer string; replacing Old English snēr string of a musical instrument

Explanation

A snare is a trap, usually for small animals, and using a noose. Snare can also mean to trap in general or any type of trap, like the snare of a TV cliffhanger that traps you into watching again. If writers are to be believed, we are surrounded by snares. Francis Beaumont implores us to know that “the world’s a snare.” And Hilda Doolittle asserts that “a snare is Love.” Still Soren Kierkegaard lets us know that “the truth is a snare: you cannot have it, without being caught.” Whoever is right, it seems that you can’t escape. A snare is also a type of small drum that rattles, as well as a wire loop used by surgeons.

Example Sentences

Snare removal is therefore necessary but by itself not sufficient to save the threatened wildlife diversity in tropical forests, scientists conclude in the journal Conservation Letters.

From Science Daily • Jun. 3, 2024

In September, Snare announced that he was taking a brief leave from the band to recover from abdominal surgery.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 8, 2024

Snare traps are commonly used by farmers on Sumatra island to catch wild boars, which are considered destructive pests with a wide and ravenous appetite for a variety of plants.

From Seattle Times • Apr. 24, 2022

Denmark deployed the frigate Esbern Snare to the Gulf of Guinea in October.

From Reuters • Dec. 14, 2021

Harry felt as if Devil’s Snare was rooting him to the spot.

From "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" by J.K. Rowling

Related Words

• corral
• enmesh
• entangle
• pull in
• round up