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:
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
"We were not able and not willing, once again, to push the snooze button on this… it was a huge step for Germany, a huge step for the German population, definitely."
From BBC ● Mar. 27, 2026
Enough people have watched these movies — or let them autoplay as they snooze on the couch — that Netflix believes films like “The Rip” are truly what their audiences want.
From Salon ● Jan. 25, 2026
So I’d disabled my alarm’s snooze feature and instructed the computer to blast “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” by Wham!
From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline
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
In Rest Mode, the ring snoozes your activity goals and readjusts your scores to prioritize recovery.
From The Verge ● Nov. 10, 2021
Not really enough to disrupt outdoor activity, the rain seemed the sort to foster contemplation and encourage Saturday snoozes and somnolence.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 7, 2021
The park across from the building’s front, used for decades by the public and employees for snoozes and lunches, is fenced off.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 16, 2017
A demon no bigger than Cocoa snoozes in a cage in a corner, and blue-glass bottles of haints rattle on a shelf in the very back.
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
Norman, the 50-pound and coarsely haired guest, snoozed within the plastic walls of his igloo-shaped shelter in mid-November.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 24, 2023
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
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
Chestnutt spread out some papers she’d brought from the Warren to study, while Gum Baby snoozed under a blanket on the grass nearby.
From "Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky" by Kwame Mbalia
Whatever engine droning and snoozing you might remember from earlier CVT systems has been banished to the Phantom Zone.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 1, 2026
Kiki will accompany the couple, who are currently based in Germany, at their shows before snoozing at home on the couch.
From BBC ● Jun. 28, 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
We also have the means to purchase a purebred pet from a woman who raises her cats in an immaculate home, where they take turns snoozing on a blanket in front of a fireplace.
From Salon ● Dec. 6, 2024
She lay there, snoozing contentedly, while he worked on his math test.
From "Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher" by Bruce Coville
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.
