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:
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’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
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
Not much later the tired radio announcer confirmed it, his voice rocking itself into a deep Sunday snooze.
From "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien
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
Whether you are growing fresh greens, scallions or herbs, you can add some novelty and nutrition to your winter meals while staying connected to nature as the outdoor garden snoozes.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 13, 2022
In Rest Mode, the ring snoozes your activity goals and readjusts your scores to prioritize recovery.
From The Verge ● Nov. 10, 2021
The place is so quiet that a dog snoozes at the main entrance, undisturbed.
From New York Times ● Aug. 22, 2019
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
Wanting more time to bond before returning to work, O’Brien brought the newborn with her to Bismarck, where she snoozed through Gov. Doug Burgum’s State of the State address on her mother’s desk.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 7, 2024
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
However, Miss Penelope Lumley snoozed through the whole business and knew nothing about it.
From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood
This is especially true if there happen to be adoptable felines playing and snoozing in the shop’s showcase windows.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 7, 2026
She joked that later in life when she saw her, by now, much older husband snoozing in his chair at home, she thought Jolene "can have him now... where's Jolene when you need her?!"
From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026
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
And there, snoozing away in the shadows, is Teeth.
From "Wayward Creatures" by Dayna Lorentz
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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.
