snigger
Americanverb (used with or without object)
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sniggers,
present (3rd person singular)
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sniggered,
past participle, past
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sniggering
present participle
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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sniggersimple
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sniggerssimple
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have sniggeredperfect
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has sniggeredperfect
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am sniggeringprogressive
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are sniggeringprogressive
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is sniggeringprogressive
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have been sniggeringperfect progressive
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has been sniggeringperfect progressive
Past
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sniggeredsimple
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had sniggeredperfect
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was sniggeringprogressive
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were sniggeringprogressive
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had been sniggeringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of snigger
C18: variant of snicker
Explanation
To snigger is to laugh scornfully, especially when you're trying to hide the fact that you're laughing. Kids might snigger when the biggest show-off in class falls over backward in his seat. You can generally use the verbs snigger and snicker interchangeably. They both mean "to snort with partially suppressed laughter," and both imply a sense of superiority or scorn. You're most likely to snigger at someone when they're being ridiculous or foolish. Experts guess that both versions of this word are imitative in origin.
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:
You may snigger that the fluffy haired and sequin-loving singer-songwriter is a cheesy anti-poet, fixating on such mortal lines as “No one heard at all, not even the chair.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 24, 2025
Yes, there could be the odd snigger at the quality of some of the opposition, but then there are no freebies in international football.
From BBC ● Jul. 5, 2023
Large parts of the rest of the world would snigger at that.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 28, 2022
As the great Irish commentator Fintan O’Toole has written, that carries “an unpardonable snigger of elite condescension.”
From Washington Post ● Nov. 10, 2020
I’d said it in a jokey tone, and Tommy responded with a little snigger, but then there was something hanging in the air that hadn’t been there before.
From "Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro
She sniggers at her boyfriend who teases her as she lines up her shot at a snooker hall in Qinhuangdao, just a few hours' drive from Beijing.
From BBC ● Jan. 3, 2024
“It was twice the size of the Shard, he’s just really scared of heights,” sniggers Dex.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 29, 2018
This confounded the soothsayers, and thereby insured that any professional predictions as to the result of today’s vote, a year later, have been met with sniggers of disbelief.
From The New Yorker ● Jun. 23, 2016
Then there was Jared Leto in a Givenchy suit that largely got the thumbs-up, but was hardly enough to buffer him from the sniggers about his striking resemblance to a certain biblical character.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 28, 2016
There were sniggers here and there and swift glances.
From "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding
Earlier in the inquest, a witness statement said that Alan Derry had a "mocking and unpleasant tone" and "sniggered loudly" in a meeting.
From BBC ● Nov. 29, 2023
Some people exchanged pleasantries, while others darted their eyes and quietly sniggered.
From Reuters ● Feb. 3, 2022
Even his fiercely loyal mirror must have sniggered when he rehearsed that line.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 17, 2021
Political journalists scratched their heads, or sniggered at the portentousness of the phrase.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 20, 2018
A few sellswords turned to watch them pass, and a camp follower sniggered, but no one moved to interfere.
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
No sniggering jokes now about princely flings and sulky princesses and body doubles.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 24, 2024
But it’s not the ’90s until two of the most idiotic teenagers return, sniggering along the way.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 26, 2023
But he left me his snorting, sniggering laughter, the traces of his Hull accent still stretching out his words, and his friendly voice preserved in all its rich, gentle warmth.
From BBC ● Jan. 22, 2022
"Not long ago, they called him 'too extreme,' 'aggressively and dangerously wrong' and 'downright dangerous,'" Baker wrote in sniggering prose.
From Salon ● Jan. 30, 2020
All of them were looking at something Harry couldn’t see and sniggering heartily.
From "Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire" by J. K. Rowling
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.
