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
It was over in a flash, with half a dozen songs or so, meaning for the tens of thousands of campers here it was a literal case of if you snooze, you lose.
From BBC ● Jun. 15, 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
“It’s not like you’re sleeping in a little sleeping cube,” Shiffrin says of her snooze routine, which long ago earned her the nickname Sir Naps a Lot.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 3, 2026
“Ciao, fulletta,” he said, before climbing into his father’s lap to continue his snooze.
From "Artemis Fowl" by Eoin Colfer
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
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
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
Others took inventory of the hastily packed belongings in their trunks or snoozed as comfortably as they could in plastic chairs at the evacuation site.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 23, 2026
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
Friendly, retriever-like Rainbow, surrendered by someone who could not care for him, snoozed in the adoption office.
From Seattle Times ● May 7, 2023
Uncle Vernon rapped the glass smartly with his knuckles, but the snake just snoozed on.
From "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" by J.K. Rowling
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
I climbed down a ladder to find my husband and 5-year-old daughter still snoozing in the lower bunk.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2024
She lay there, snoozing contentedly, while he worked on his math test.
From "Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher" by Bruce Coville
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
