snowflake
Americannoun
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one of the small, feathery masses or flakes in which snow falls.
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Facetious Slang. a person who is considered unique and deserving of special treatment.
I have twenty-eight special snowflakes in my classroom, and their parents’ demands make teaching impossible!
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Slang. a person who is easily offended, overly sensitive, or emotionally fragile.
You snowflakes need to leave your safe spaces and engage with people who disagree with your beliefs.
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Meteorology.
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an agglomeration of snow crystals falling as a unit.
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any snow particle.
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any of certain European plants belonging to the genus Leucojum, of the amaryllis family, resembling the snowdrop.
noun
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one of the mass of small thin delicate arrangements of ice crystals that fall as snow
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any of various European amaryllidaceous plants of the genus Leucojum, such as L. vernum ( spring snowflake ), that have white nodding bell-shaped flowers
Usage
What else does snowflake mean? No, we're not walking in a winter wonderland. Snowflake, here, is a political insult for someone who is perceived as too sensitive, often used for millennials and liberals.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of snowflake
Explanation
When it snows, each individual bit of snow you see is a snowflake. Each snowflake is made up of an ice crystal—or several ice crystals stuck together. At the center of every snowflake is a tiny particle of dust, which attracts drops of water that freeze and form crystals. If you look at a snowflake through a microscope, you can see how complex its pattern is—and each one really is different from every other snowflake. This fact led to the informal, derogatory meaning of this word, "someone who's overly sensitive because they're supposedly so special."
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.
See Examples For:
The film cuts to a hummingbird sipping nectar from a flower on a cactus, a sea turtle floating over a coral reef, pink flamingos on a green lake, a snowflake, a butterfly.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 16, 2026
The sensors also have an aerosol probe that measures particulate matter, because dust helps with snowflake formation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 4, 2025
The arrival of only one snowflake adds to Gobo’s severe case of writer’s block.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 20, 2025
Other objects included a pocket TV, a snowflake hologram and a photo of Princess Diana.
From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2025
Every now and then a freezing draft and sometimes a snowflake whistled in from the silent outdoors.
From "The Darkest Minds" by Alexandra Bracken
Milburn challenged the idea that young people were not trying, or were "work-shy, snowflakes, soft".
From BBC ● May 29, 2026
Crystals appear everywhere in nature and technology, from snowflakes and diamonds to the silicon inside electronic devices.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 2, 2026
Not to be a bummer, but come summer, you might just find yourself missing the snowflakes.
From Slate ● Feb. 25, 2026
Forged from the spicy gingerbread dough in our recipe below, the resulting centerpiece—or flurry of individual snowflakes, if you prefer—is edible and visually enticing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 5, 2025
Angles, colors, the riot of snowflakes, the din of Sid’s band—everything was soft and kind and infinitely forgiving.
From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt
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.
