snippet
Americannoun
-
a small piece snipped off; a small bit, scrap, or fragment.
an anthology of snippets.
-
Informal. a small or insignificant person.
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of snippet
Explanation
A snippet is a tiny piece. You might only have time to read a snippet of "Moby Dick" before your early English class — just enough to know it's a book about a whale. While a snippet can be a literal fragment of something, like a snippet of hair clipped off the end of your dog's tail, the word is often used to talk about less physical bits. You may get a snippet of information by watching TV news with the sound turned off, or end your writing workshop with just a snippet of an idea for your screenplay. It comes from snip, with its Low German root snippen, "to snip or shred."
Vocabulary lists containing snippet
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
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The Breadwinner
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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:
The mRNA vaccine and the Oxford vaccine both deliver a snippet of genetic code into the body.
From BBC ● Jun. 1, 2026
Exactly what, time will tell, but this final snippet comes after Season 4 and possibly before the start of Season 5.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 5, 2026
“This has been in many respects a trial by snippet and insinuation,” Marriott said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 15, 2026
He returned with a snippet of film documenting one of the most notorious cryptid sightings in history—a fleeting, jittery glimpse of a hairy figure crossing a riverbank.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 12, 2026
The article he and Mari had found a snippet of.
From "Boy 2.0" by Tracey Baptiste
These snippets of information are chosen by Natalie Harp, the executive assistant to the president, who also runs his Truth Social account.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026
Dettol said the advert, which has been removed following the backlash, was intended to criticise gender stereotypes, but that snippets of it that later circulated online distorted its core message.
From BBC ● Jun. 23, 2026
Media companies seeking to use more than snippets of the speech must obtain a license from the estate until the copyright expires in 2058, 95 years after publication.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 17, 2026
We’re forced to hear endless snippets of it, too, although the full lyrics are saved for the end when we discover that one of songwriters clumsily shoved in the word “albatross.”
From Los Angeles Times ● May 28, 2026
I caught snippets of their back-and-forth, heard their feet slap against the pavement.
From "The Darkest Minds" by Alexandra Bracken
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.
