snipe
Americannoun
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snipes,
plural
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snipe
plural
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Also snite any of several long-billed game birds of the genera Gallinago (sometimesCapella ) and Limnocryptes, inhabiting marshy areas, as G. gallinago common snipe, orwhole snipe, of Eurasia and North America, having barred and striped white, brown, and black plumage.
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any of several other long-billed birds, as some sandpipers.
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a shot, usually from a hidden position.
verb (used without object)
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snipes,
present (3rd person singular)
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sniped,
past participle, past
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sniping
present participle
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to shoot or hunt snipe.
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to shoot at individuals as opportunity offers from a concealed or distant position.
The enemy was sniping from the roofs.
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to attack a person or a person's work with petulant or snide criticism, especially anonymously or from a safe distance.
noun
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any of various birds of the genus Gallinago (or Capella ) and related genera, such as G. gallinago ( common or Wilson's snipe ), of marshes and river banks, having a long straight bill: family Scolopacidae (sandpipers, etc), order Charadriiformes
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any of various similar related birds, such as certain sandpipers and curlews
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a shot, esp a gunshot, fired from a place of concealment
verb
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to attack (a person or persons) with a rifle from a place of concealment
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to criticize adversely a person or persons from a position of security
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(intr) to hunt or shoot snipe
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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snipesimple
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snipessimple
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have snipedperfect
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has snipedperfect
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am snipingprogressive
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are snipingprogressive
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is snipingprogressive
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have been snipingperfect progressive
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has been snipingperfect progressive
Past
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snipedsimple
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had snipedperfect
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was snipingprogressive
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were snipingprogressive
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had been snipingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of snipe
First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English snype (noun), from Old Norse -snīpa (in mȳrisnīpa “moor snipe”); cognate with Norwegian snipa, Icelandic snīpa; compare Danish sneppe, German Schnepfe
Explanation
A long-beaked bird that lives in marshes and swamps is called a snipe. As a verb, to snipe is to attack someone in a snide way — something a snipe would never do, because birds aren't that petty. You can find the well-camouflaged shorebird known as the snipe just about everywhere in the world. These birds are famously difficult for hunters to shoot, as they blend in well with their surroundings and have an erratic flight pattern. This is where the word sniper, or sharpshooter, comes from, in addition to the definition of snipe that means "shoot from a hiding place." The figurative sense of "attack someone verbally" followed.
Vocabulary lists containing snipe
Dog Squad
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Small Spaces
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Katt Loves Dogg
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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:
Oil prices dipped after Friday's one-percent gains, with the United States and Iran continuing to snipe at each other and showing no signs of reaching a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
From Barron's ● Aug. 17, 2026
Minks also prey on ground-nesting birds such as snipe, lapwing and waterfowl, as well as kingfishers and sand martins.
From BBC ● Jul. 6, 2026
Despite the stress of delivering the “Arirang” on time, the men never bicker or snipe at each other.
From Salon ● Mar. 27, 2026
Vance’s snipe at “cat ladies” wasn’t Swift’s introduction to right-wing weirdness.
From Slate ● Aug. 6, 2025
“Do you want to find the aqueducts,” Alyssa interjects, “or just snipe at each other until they put us on a death bus to nowhere?”
From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman
This has continued well into the Musk era of X-née-Twitter, with the liberal Oates occasionally directing her snipes and barbs at the platform’s white nationalist owner.
From Slate ● Nov. 13, 2025
Debutant GB Sevens player Jade Shekells brought a physical presence off the bench to bounce off multiple Italian defenders, while replacement scrum-half Flo Robinson, through various snipes, also looked bright on her first cap.
From BBC ● Mar. 23, 2025
"It's just childish and it's amateurish. That's why they lost. They don't know what they're doing," he snipes.
From Salon ● Aug. 23, 2023
“It’s like we’ve done something wrong,” Gosling snipes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 27, 2023
In habit they are like the snipes; but their tails are shorter and thicker.
From Endurance Test or, How Clear Grit Won the Day by Alan Douglas
Before stepping down as co-CEOs, Overdeck and Siegel rarely appeared together at firm events and frequently sniped at each other in meetings, The Wall Street Journal reported.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026
Before stepping down as co-CEOs, Overdeck and Siegel rarely appeared together at firm events and frequently sniped at each other in meetings, the Journal previously reported.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 1, 2026
Reagan-era conservative alum Hal Furman sniped that it was a shame Dhillon wasn’t in a position to act, so she made a big show of blocking him.
From Salon ● Dec. 29, 2025
Officers have sniped about his burly build, tendency to smile during interviews and other eccentricities.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2025
“You can’t tell me what to do,” Vonetta sniped.
From "Gone Crazy in Alabama" by Rita Williams-Garcia
Many snipers, like Kovalskiy, believe the era of sniping has passed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 14, 2026
The two had been sniping at each other all game, with Doncic at one point taunting Schroder for not signing an $84-million contract with the Lakers in 2021.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 11, 2026
Megyn Kelly publicly mocked fellow conservative commentator Ben Shapiro, adding to a pattern of influencer-on-influencer sniping that played out both onstage and online.
From Salon ● Dec. 21, 2025
Scrum-half Justine Pelletier grabbed the opening try and was a constant threat, with her sharp sniping runs and speedy passing creating havoc in New Zealand's defence.
From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2025
Harry got so tired of Ron and Hermione sniping at each other over their homework in the common room that he took Sirius’s food up to the Owlery that evening on his own.
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.
