snippet

American  

[snip-it] / ˈsnɪp ɪt /

noun

• snippets
  plural

1. a small piece snipped off; a small bit, scrap, or fragment.

   an anthology of snippets.

2. Informal. a small or insignificant person.

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snippet British  

/ ˈsnɪpɪt /

noun

1. a small scrap or fragment

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• snippetiness
  noun
• snippety
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• snippets
  plural

Etymology

Origin of snippet

First recorded in 1655–65; snip + -et

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."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

snippet snippets

In Covid, the letter being delivered was a snippet of genetic code from the Covid virus.

From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026

The theme song from “Titanic” wasn’t on anyone’s bingo card, but the employee running the game played a snippet and joked, “That’s all we’re allowed to pay on a cruise ship for safety reasons.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 3, 2026

The mRNA vaccine and the Oxford vaccine both deliver a snippet of genetic code into the body.

From BBC ● Jun. 1, 2026

And when another mayoral candidate, City Councilmember Nithya Raman, posted Trump’s praise of Pratt on social media, he responded with a snippet of himself making a dismissive face during a debate.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 21, 2026

Here is a snippet from a recruiting session for call center operators at a women’s college in Bangalore: Recruiter 1: “Good morning, girls.”

From "The World Is Flat" by Thomas L. Friedman

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

The brand in March used a clipping agency to turn its annual “Live Más Live” variety show and marketing event into a feast of TikTok snippets showcasing new menu items.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 15, 2026

Andrew Wilson’s “I Wanna Be Loved by You,” with a seductive cover image of the actress, offers a surprisingly sensible life history in quickfire snippets of information, or “100 Takes.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 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

Many of the small rectangles of fabric sewn by hand into interlocking circles have dissolved altogether, the ghostly remains of stitches holding snippets of colored cloth.

From "Orphan Train" by Christina Baker Kline

Related Words

• bit
• fragment
• morsel
• smidgen