snoop
Americanverb (used without object)
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snoops,
present (3rd person singular)
-
snooped,
past participle, past
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snooping
present participle
noun
-
snoops
plural
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an act or instance of snooping.
-
a person who snoops.
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a private detective.
verb
noun
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a person who pries into the business of others
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an act or instance of snooping
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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snoopsimple
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snoopssimple
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have snoopedperfect
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has snoopedperfect
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am snoopingprogressive
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are snoopingprogressive
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is snoopingprogressive
-
have been snoopingperfect progressive
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has been snoopingperfect progressive
Past
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snoopedsimple
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had snoopedperfect
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was snoopingprogressive
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were snoopingprogressive
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had been snoopingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of snoop
1825–35, < Dutch snoepen to take and eat food on the sly
Explanation
When you snoop, you poke around in someone else's business. A teenager might snoop in her sister's room, looking for her diary. You snoop when you rustle through someone's garbage looking for love letters, and if you spy on your neighbor through the curtains, you also snoop. In fact, if you spend enough time doing this, you'll be called a snoop — a sneaky busybody. The earliest meaning of snoop, "to go around in a prying manner," comes from the Dutch word snoepen, "to pry."
Vocabulary lists containing snoop
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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:
ADS-B gave them an instant high-tech snoop tool, including the ability to claim owners are registering planes in one place but parking them elsewhere.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026
Camryn Smith and her daughter showed up to snoop around for the deals at the Americana at Brand in Glendale early Friday morning.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 28, 2025
One member warned that state officials would snoop around their rural properties to tell owners what to do.
From Salon ● Aug. 8, 2025
"I'd probably go up to them and say, 'Have you heard about the ban?' I'd rather be up front than snoop on a neighbour."
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2025
"How could you trust that snoop? He betrayed us."
From "The Thief Lord" by Cornelia Funke
Like most VPN users, Canadians use VPNs for safer torrenting, streaming foreign and local content while abroad, protecting their data on public networks, and, increasingly, to keep corporate and government snoops away from their data.
From Salon ● Mar. 11, 2026
He can be paranoid, but she snoops around a lot.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 18, 2026
Yet the very value proposition of VPNs rests on an internet rife with restrictions and snoops.
From Slate ● Jan. 10, 2025
Mr. Chew disputed that his app snoops on Americans.
From Washington Times ● Mar. 23, 2023
British spy Jacobus van Zandt snoops through papers in the desk of American agent Silas Deane in Paris.
From "George Washington, Spymaster" by Thomas B. Allen
For eight years they snooped on 182 nests, checking them every few days during the breeding season.
From Scientific American ● Oct. 1, 2023
Key lawmakers said no extension will be granted unless it’s coupled with major reforms and better transparency on who’s getting snooped, and why.
From Washington Times ● Jun. 13, 2023
The reporters who snooped on the weekend’s wedding via binoculars might have had a better view of what they were covering.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 21, 2022
The authors speculate it was perhaps high-altitude reconnaissance planes flying at 6 miles high that often snooped over Benghazi.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 31, 2022
Before I went back down, I snooped around a little bit.
From "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" by Jonathan Safran Foer
Julian O’Neill investigates how the unlawful snooping was exposed.
From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026
Looking at ChatGPT’s file on me felt like snooping through something I wasn’t supposed to, like a therapist’s notes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 11, 2026
While snooping around the app a few weeks ago, I noticed a friend of mine had logged a film I’d never heard of, a little Tubi Original called “Hag.”
From Salon ● Apr. 5, 2026
And for bears that keep snooping around houses or livestock, there are ways of hazing that don’t involve dogs chasing them.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 9, 2025
“More like you’re nosing around to see if anybody has anything worth stealing. Now you git out of here and stay out. I don’t want boys like you snooping around my house. Go on, now!”
From "The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs" by Betty G. Birney
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.
