snack
Americannoun
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snacks
plural
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a small portion of food or drink or a light meal, especially one eaten between regular meals.
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a share or portion.
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Slang. a sexy and physically attractive person; hottie.
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Australian Slang. something easily done.
verb (used without object)
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snacks,
present (3rd person singular)
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snacked,
past participle, past
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snacking
present participle
idioms
noun
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a light quick meal eaten between or in place of main meals
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a sip or bite
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rare a share
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informal a very easy task
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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snacksimple
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snackssimple
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have snackedperfect
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has snackedperfect
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am snackingprogressive
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are snackingprogressive
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is snackingprogressive
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have been snackingperfect progressive
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has been snackingperfect progressive
Past
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snackedsimple
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had snackedperfect
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was snackingprogressive
-
were snackingprogressive
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had been snackingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of snack
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English verb snacchen, snac(c)he, snak “(of a dog) to snap at, bite, seize”; Middle English noun snacche, snak(e); further origin uncertain; compare Middle Dutch snacken “(of a dog) to snap”: Norwegian dialect snaka “(of an animal) to snatch”
Explanation
A snack is a small serving of food between meals. Enjoy a healthy snack such as apples with peanut butter, or indulge in a bag of chips. After a huge breakfast, you might just want a light snack instead of lunch. You can use snack as a verb too: "After school, I like to snack on fruit and cookies and listen to music." Snack originally meant "snap or bite" in Middle English, usually in the context of a dog's bite. The noun was also used in the 17th century to mean "a portion or share," which led to the now-obsolete phrase "go snacks," meaning "share with someone."
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 39-year-old lives in Tanque Verde and travels throughout south-central Arizona, delivering soda and snack foods to major retailers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 1, 2026
Located near the Széchenyi thermal-bath and pool complex, a massive Neo-Baroque marvel that opened in 1913, it can provide an ideal snack after an afternoon of saunas and year-round outdoor swimming.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026
They’re also sold at select comic shops throughout the country and in Burbank’s Horror Boodega, a nostalgic and scary-movie-themed snack shop.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 27, 2026
He said it may hand off more of its bottling in some regions, even as it tests in Texas whether to merge its snack and drink delivery networks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2026
There are two vending machines snug against the wall, both of them illuminated in a fluorescent radiance, shiny with their rows of brightly colored snack wrappers and bottled sodas.
From "The Sea in Winter" by Christine Day
The largest is Kellanova, which focuses on snacks, cereals, noodles and other food products like Eggo, Pringles and Pop-Tarts sold globally.
From BBC ● Nov. 4, 2026
People aren’t eating as much canned soup and packaged snacks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2026
With gas at $4 a gallon, customers are becoming scarcer at the gas station attached to his store, as are sales of snacks and drinks, forcing him to reduce his staff.
From Barron's ● Oct. 26, 2026
His favorite part of the payday routine was going to the grocery store to pick out his favorite snacks.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 26, 2026
Fresh varieties of PowerBars and snacks, like the fun day when your parent goes to the grocery store and you snoop in the bag with excitement.
From "A Heart in a Body in the World" by Deb Caletti
A hurdle: The Patriots schedule is considerably harder than it was last season, when it snacked on light appetizers through January and got to play the AFC championship game against a backup QB.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026
Research group Circana says that last year 48.8% of consumers snacked three or more times a day, up 2.7 percentage points over 2024.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 7, 2026
Lindblad was unaware of her first victory until cameras swarmed her as she nervously snacked in front of the clubhouse.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 20, 2025
Guests snacked on canapés and hors d’oeuvres before proceeding upstairs for the main course.
From Slate ● Mar. 3, 2025
Out in the fields, where he weeded and harvested from August to October, he snacked on corn, cabbage, and other vegetables.
From "Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West" by Blaine Harden
In late 2025, Kellanova was officially acquired by privately held snacking company Mars, which now handles U.S. manufacturing of the chips.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
Add to this the sugar-hit snacking that keeps some shift workers going overnight and it makes for an extremely unhealthy cocktail.
From BBC ● Jul. 19, 2026
Chicks Luna and Sandy were seen safe and sound Sunday morning around 6 a.m. on the popular livestream nest cam aimed at their Big Bear pine tree, snacking on fish in the family aerie.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 6, 2026
The new CEO has set out to streamline Nestlé’s portfolio around coffee, snacking, nutrition, and pet care, believing all four segments can deliver high-single-digit revenue growth.
From Barron's ● Jun. 10, 2026
Though we had already spent most of the day snacking, it was still a pretty awesome announcement, and we all were shocked by it.
From "When I Was the Greatest" by Jason Reynolds
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