snare drum

American  

noun

snare drums plural

1. a small double-headed drum, carried at the side or placed on a stationary stand, having snares across the lower head to produce a rattling or reverberating effect.

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snare drum British  

noun

1. music a cylindrical drum with two drumheads, the upper of which is struck and the lower fitted with a snare See snare 2

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snare drum Cultural  

1. A shallow cylindrical drum, with wires or pieces of catgut (snares) stretched across the bottom skin to give a sharp, rattling sound when the top skin is struck. Snare drums are used in orchestras and in nearly all kinds of bands.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• snare drums
  plural

Etymology

Origin of snare drum

First recorded in 1870–75

Example Sentences

The closing number, “Match-Lit,” features a moody production with a clanging snare drum and bits of pedal-steel guitar.

From The Wall Street Journal • Sep. 30, 2025

The most notorious of these is the entrance of the cartoony-yet-vicious Mouse King — and an accompanying snare drum hit that can be a loud surprise even for grown-ups.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 1, 2023

Mr Lightbody added the drummer's nickname is 'thunderclap' because he "hit the snare drum so hard he was prone to smash right through the drumskin."

From BBC • Sep. 1, 2023

Sharp snaps of snare drum punctuate a gradual increase in forcefulness to a bleak, expansive landscape of solemn brasses and a droning in the strings, which melts into an almost Tchaikovskian Romantic sweep.

From New York Times • Jun. 23, 2023

I started with both hands doing a kind of shuffled march on the snare drum, pretty quietly.

From "Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie" by Jordan Sonnenblick