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.
-
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
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had snuckperfect
-
was sneakingprogressive
-
were sneakingprogressive
-
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:
“This is a new experience for me, being able to sneak out in the middle of a half.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 24, 2026
One of their sons managed to sneak out to make a police report, which led to a raid of their house in Bara, a remote town in the mountainous Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
From BBC ● Jun. 24, 2026
Strickland had to sneak in because Dana White allegedly banned him from UFC Freedom 250.
From Slate ● Jun. 16, 2026
They know that a full-out nuclear war would end civilization, so the risk isn’t so much a purposeful sneak attack by one country against one or two of the others, it’s a miscalculation.
From Salon ● Jun. 15, 2026
You sneak out for a starlit solo practice.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
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
Google and security researchers say the mysterious Chinese company is an unsavory enterprise that sneaks unwanted and dangerous software on millions of phones, home computers and Android devices.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 28, 2026
He took off his sneaks and socks and walked — nonchalant as you please — through the rat-infested dump at the foot of Rako Hill.
From "Maniac Magee" by Jerry Spinelli
But team-mate Olav Kooij did not follow and as the riders hesitated, Waerenskjold sneaked through a gap beside the barriers to launch a counter-attack with 400m remaining.
From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2026
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
“Jury Duty” which sneaked up on the world in 2023, inserted an unwitting ordinary person into a prearranged courtroom scenario otherwise populated by actors.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 19, 2026
In the older days, Arab men wore long, flowing robes and cloaks with golden edges, but suits had sneaked into their closets now.
From "Habibi" by Naomi Shihab Nye
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
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
“I snuck up next to him and whispered, ‘I must be at the right show because Pete Finney’s here,’” he wrote.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 11, 2026
Leipzig were strong early and broke through after 20 minutes when Romulo snuck past Bayern's Tah to poke in an Antonio Nusa pass from close range.
From Barron's ● Jan. 17, 2026
“Bye, Albie,” Calista said softly before she snuck out the door.
From Absolutely Almost by Lisa Graff
Russia has relied on a combination of infantry sneaking through Ukraine’s thinly held front line, and drones targeting Ukrainian movement behind the lines.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 11, 2026
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
But neither those measures nor Friday’s sizzling temperatures stopped fans from gathering in hopes of sneaking a peak at their longtime idol and sending Swift their well wishes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 3, 2026
The giant’s spit didn’t make sneaking around very easy.
From "Half Upon a Time" by James Riley
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.
