sneak

[ sneek ]
See synonyms for: sneaksneakingsnuck on Thesaurus.com
verb (used without object),sneaked or snuck, sneak·ing.

  1. to go in a stealthy or furtive manner; slink; skulk.

  2. to act in a furtive or underhand way.

  1. British Informal. to tattle; inform.

verb (used with object),sneaked or snuck, sneak·ing.

  1. to move, put, pass, etc., in a stealthy or furtive manner: He sneaked the gun into his pocket.

  2. to do, take, or enjoy hurriedly or surreptitiously: to sneak a cigarette.

noun

  1. a sneaking, underhand, or contemptible person.

  2. Informal. a stealthy or furtive departure.

  1. British Informal. tattletale; informer.

  2. sneaker (def. 1).

  3. Informal. a sneak preview.

  4. Cards. the lead of a singleton in a suit other than the trump suit, as in whist.

Origin of sneak

1
1590–1600; variant of Middle English sniken,Old English snīcan “to creep”; cognate with Old Norse snīkja “to hanker after”

synonym study For sneak

1. See lurk.

usage note For sneak

First recorded in writing toward the end of the 19th century in the United States, snuck has become in recent decades a standard variant past tense and past participle of the verb sneak : Bored by the lecture, he snuck out the side door. Snuck occurs frequently in fiction and in journalistic writing as well as on radio and television: In the darkness the sloop had snuck around the headland, out of firing range. It is not so common in highly formal or belletristic writing, where sneaked is more likely to occur. Snuck is the only spoken past tense and past participle for many younger and middle-aged persons of all educational levels in the U. S. and Canada. Snuck has occasionally been considered nonstandard, but it is so widely used by professional writers and educated speakers that it can no longer be so regarded.

Other words for sneak

Words Nearby sneak

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use sneak in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for sneak

sneak

/ (sniːk) /

verb

  1. (intr; often foll by along, off, in, etc) to move furtively

  2. (intr) to behave in a cowardly or underhand manner

  1. (tr) to bring, take, or put stealthily

  2. (intr) informal, mainly British to tell tales (esp in schools)

  3. (tr) informal to steal

  4. (intr; foll by off, out, away, etc) informal to leave unobtrusively

noun

  1. a person who acts in an underhand or cowardly manner, esp as an informer

    • a stealthy act or movement

    • (as modifier): a sneak attack

  1. British informal an unobtrusive departure

Origin of sneak

1
Old English snīcan to creep; from Old Norse snīkja to hanker after

Derived forms of sneak

  • sneaky, adjective
  • sneakily, adverb
  • sneakiness, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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