snooze
Americanverb (used without object)
-
snoozes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
snoozed,
past participle, past
-
snoozing
present participle
verb
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
snoozesimple
-
snoozessimple
-
have snoozedperfect
-
has snoozedperfect
-
am snoozingprogressive
-
are snoozingprogressive
-
is snoozingprogressive
-
have been snoozingperfect progressive
-
has been snoozingperfect progressive
Past
-
snoozedsimple
-
had snoozedperfect
-
was snoozingprogressive
-
were snoozingprogressive
-
had been snoozingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of snooze
First recorded in 1780–90; origin uncertain
Explanation
When you snooze, you take a quick nap during the day. Nobody snoozes for too long though, because then you’d just call it "sleeping." Maybe you’ve fallen asleep in class before, dozed off while watching a movie, or snoozed for a minute while learning some new vocabulary. Wake up, sleepyhead! Snoozing is a light type of sleep, probably without dreams even. If you like reading at the beach, make sure you’re wearing sunscreen in case you snooze off.
Vocabulary lists containing snooze
The Lazy, Hazy Days of Summer
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"Pitch Perfect," Vocabulary from the movie
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Festival of Sleep Day
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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 document itself is mostly a snooze, as these things always are.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
That may be a nice lesson to learn, but it’s a real snooze to watch.
From Salon ● Jun. 6, 2026
That’s no big deal if you’re going to binge movies or TV shows for hours or snooze the flight away.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 1, 2026
About all they’re hitting is the snooze button — snoozing and, on Wednesday, losing 4-1 to the Cleveland Guardians at Dodger Stadium.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 1, 2026
He was always waking up just about sunset, when I wanted to take a snooze.
From "Bunnicula" by Deborah Howe and James Howe
If kids can grow out of their pretend pals, so too can horror audiences of cynical snoozes like this.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 7, 2024
“A lot of times he snoozes at the bottom of the water.”
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 14, 2023
In Rest Mode, the ring snoozes your activity goals and readjusts your scores to prioritize recovery.
From The Verge ● Nov. 10, 2021
As the N.C.A.A. tournament rages in the foreground, the N.B.A. generally snoozes its way into April, with only about a dozen games remaining on each team’s schedule.
From New York Times ● Mar. 20, 2017
Alex points at Cocoa as she snoozes in my lap.
From "The Manifestor Prophecy" by Angie Thomas
A family of four adults on vacation happily snoozed in their pods with eye masks on.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 18, 2026
I snoozed, and I lost: Not only did I not snag a seat in the actual courtroom, but the media-overflow room was the most packed it’s been the entire trial.
From Slate ● Oct. 26, 2023
Perhaps I’m just a heavy sleeper, but I snoozed peacefully through the night, unable to hear anyone else’s snoring or late-night TikTok scrolling.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 31, 2023
He snoozed quietly for half an hour, and then entered a more active sleep stage, his skin cycling through colors and textures used for camouflage — typical behavior for a cephalopod.
From New York Times ● May 25, 2023
Their two turkeys were sitting on the ground under the roosting chickens, getting shat upon as they snoozed.
From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols
It was 8:30 a.m., and most of the ship’s 4,000 passengers were still snoozing or filling their plates at the breakfast buffet.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 3, 2026
Thirty years ago L.A. firefighters found children sleeping in closets and babies snoozing in dresser drawers.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 6, 2026
In the fierce midday heat we found most people snoozing in hammocks, or playing music on their porches.
From BBC ● May 20, 2025
While my face was getting blasted, Yu rubbed and moisturized my hands before putting them into warm mittens, a process that left me feeling like I was on a beach somewhere, snoozing in the sun.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2024
So both girls were snoozing soundly when Jillson banged on their door.
From "The Mysterious Benedict Society" by Trenton Lee Stewart
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.
