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
-
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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Where the River Takes Us
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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
She said muddy edges around the waterways were ideal for insects and molluscs, which "will provide a feast" for wading birds like lapwings, redshank and snipe.
From BBC ● Apr. 26, 2026
Vance’s snipe at “cat ladies” wasn’t Swift’s introduction to right-wing weirdness.
From Slate ● Aug. 6, 2025
For the first five episodes, Ava and Deborah snipe and jab at each other while struggling to keep the show they’ve worked so hard to secure on the air.
From Salon ● May 9, 2025
"How easy it is to snipe after the fact, to apply the knowledge we have now to the events of 1993," he wrote.
From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson
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
She even recycled one of her prepared snipes, telling Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.,
From Salon ● Oct. 13, 2025
"He doesn't have a seat in Parliament, wouldn't necessarily find or win one," and one minister snipes, "any chance to have a dig – Burnham will never miss an opportunity".
From BBC ● Sep. 27, 2025
“All is fair where you wear the crown,” snipes Gal Gadot’s evil queen, who wears slinky ballgowns made of obsidian shards that clatter and clank with every step.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 19, 2025
Am I not taking pleasure in the shooting of snipes?
From Tennyson and His Friends by Various
The two sniped, traded personal barbs and, unsurprisingly, focused more on building their own social media brands than getting to the truth.
From Salon ● Sep. 8, 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 Wall Street Journal reported.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 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
They were dismissive and sniped about her appearance, but Watson wasn't above taking a look at her work when Wilkins offered.
From BBC ● Nov. 7, 2025
Brand flies were sniped out of midair, each hit punctuated with an insult.
From "Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky" by Kwame Mbalia
That’s rarely a happy experience for upstarts who build their careers sniping at incumbents from the sidelines.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 16, 2026
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
Van der Merwe scored two of his three tries in the opening half with Ben White sniping for another.
From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2025
Leading up to that scene, Ellie strives to establish her own hero identity by training in hand-to-hand combat with men twice her size and sharpening her sniping skills with a long gun.
From Salon ● Apr. 21, 2025
They crouch behind the trees in the old orchard, sniping at one another, shouting: “You’re dead!”
From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
