snooze
Americanverb (used without object)
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
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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:
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
That may be a nice lesson to learn, but it’s a real snooze to watch.
From Salon ● Jun. 6, 2026
We picture an idealized version of ourselves—disciplined, virtuous, rising at dawn—rather than the empirical version that hits the snooze button.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 30, 2025
The Fed meeting was expected to be something of a snooze, with many predicting that earnings would again overshadow the central bank.
From Barron's ● Oct. 29, 2025
I glance over my shoulder at Cocoa, and she rests her head against my neck for a snooze.
From "The Manifestor Prophecy" by Angie Thomas
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
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
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
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
Friendly, retriever-like Rainbow, surrendered by someone who could not care for him, snoozed in the adoption office.
From Seattle Times ● May 7, 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
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
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
“Balderdash!” he gasped at the Fat Lady, who was snoozing in her frame in front of the portrait hole.
From "Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire" by J. K. Rowling
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.
