sneak
Americanverb (used without object)
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to go in a stealthy or furtive manner; slink; skulk.
- Synonyms:
- steal
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to act in a furtive or underhand way.
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British Informal. to tattle; inform.
verb (used with object)
-
to move, put, pass, etc., in a stealthy or furtive manner.
He sneaked the gun into his pocket.
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to do, take, or enjoy hurriedly or surreptitiously.
to sneak a cigarette.
noun
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a sneaking, underhand, or contemptible person.
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Informal. a stealthy or furtive departure.
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British Informal. tattletale; informer.
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Informal. a sneak preview.
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Cards. the lead of a singleton in a suit other than the trump suit, as in whist.
verb
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(intr; often foll by along, off, in, etc) to move furtively
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(intr) to behave in a cowardly or underhand manner
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(tr) to bring, take, or put stealthily
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informal (intr) to tell tales (esp in schools)
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informal (tr) to steal
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informal (intr; foll by off, out, away, etc) to leave unobtrusively
noun
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a person who acts in an underhand or cowardly manner, esp as an informer
-
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a stealthy act or movement
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( as modifier )
a sneak attack
-
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informal an unobtrusive departure
Usage
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.
Synonym Usage
See lurk.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
sneaksimple
-
sneakssimple
-
have sneakedperfect
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have snuckperfect
-
has sneakedperfect
-
has snuckperfect
-
am sneakingprogressive
-
are sneakingprogressive
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is sneakingprogressive
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have been sneakingperfect progressive
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has been sneakingperfect progressive
Past
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sneakedsimple
-
snucksimple
-
had sneakedperfect
-
had snuckperfect
-
was sneakingprogressive
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were sneakingprogressive
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had been sneakingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of sneak
1590–1600; variant of Middle English sniken, Old English snīcan “to creep”; cognate with Old Norse snīkja “to hanker after”
Explanation
The word sneak has many shades of meaning, but all involve doing something in a secretive or stealthy way. If you sneak home after midnight, that means you’re quietly creeping into the house so no one will hear you. In addition to moving furtively, sneak can also mean doing something secretly or slipping something in. You might sneak a cookie when no one is looking, or you might sneak your brother into a concert. You could even sneak a glance at that cute guy in your math class — you do it when you think no one will notice. Sneak has a noun form that describes a furtive person — someone who does a lot of sneaking.
Vocabulary lists containing sneak
Nine Stories
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"On the Menu" and "Find the Adaptations"
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American Street
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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:
England's Sophie Ecclestone, having just completed a flamboyant half-century, pressed forward, only for the ball to dip, grip and sneak between bat and pad into the stumps.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026
Like seemingly everyone else, I’ve spent the past year trying to find practical ways to sneak a little more protein into my day.
From Salon ● Jul. 8, 2026
I would sneak down there wearing giant Jnco raver pants, and watch everyone.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 25, 2026
A smattering of fans even managed to sneak the banned flag inside.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 16, 2026
I sneak out of my room and stand outside the dining room, where I hear Dad and Grandma talking.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
He explained that he rarely stays in one place for longer than five nights - and sneaks out to go to work.
From BBC ● May 7, 2026
Fires that start below the surface often begin spontaneously, as organic matter decomposes and creates heat, fueled by oxygen that sneaks in through the cracks.
From Barron's ● Apr. 30, 2026
This is important because retirement sneaks up on most people.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 22, 2026
“But it sneaks up on you. These guys have this fleeting moment of connection.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 9, 2026
She was in the middle of rereading the bit where Turtle sneaks into the mansion on Halloween when Matthew bellowed, “Look! Looklooklooklooklook.”
From "Book Scavenger" by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman
Only after a nurse sneaked a phone to Johnson was he able to contact his wife.
From Slate ● Jun. 25, 2026
All better: Basil, the fox who sneaked on a ship to New York.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 3, 2026
One night in 2022, he sneaked outside and blasted it with orange paintballs.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 8, 2026
Ireland were blown away by France, sneaked home against Italy, were utterly imperious against England and then battled to a win against Wales.
From BBC ● Mar. 10, 2026
When it was almost dark, Georgie and I sneaked back to the trailer.
From "The Old Willis Place" by Mary Downing Hahn
Gannon Ken Van Dyke, placed a series of lucrative trades in the days and immediate hours before his colleagues in the service snuck into Caracas and took Maduro.
From Slate ● Apr. 24, 2026
The band joked they had snuck in a vial of their own tears to promote their single A Tear in Space, and pretended to hide them in the capsule.
From BBC ● Apr. 10, 2026
Infiniti: I snuck onto set when she was working with Lucy, don’t worry.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 8, 2026
After Wisconsin missed a layup and the Panthers recovered the rebound, Johnston snuck out on a break and caught the pass.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 20, 2026
On the dark and foggy night of August 27, almost ten thousand American troops snuck off Brooklyn in a fleet of small boats.
From I Survived the American Revolution, 1776 by Lauren Tarshis
While other children were reaching for fruit snacks, I was sneaking handfuls of Castelvetranos from the appetizer tray.
From Salon ● Jul. 7, 2026
People keep sneaking into an empty IBM campus.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 7, 2026
Suddenly there’s interest from a yes-chef-centric prestige drama called “The Boar,” as well as the return of an old eating disorder that has our heroine sneaking off to the bathroom, in danger of toppling everything.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2026
For most, this meant first sneaking across the Russian border at night with the assistance of a guide.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 5, 2026
He has become something of an expert at sneaking back into his house without waking anyone, so he has been staying at the circus later and later each night.
From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern
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.
