snuck

[ snuhk ]

1. a past participle and simple past tense of sneak.

snuck

/ snʌk /

verb

1. See sneak
   not_standard.
   a past tense and past participle of sneak

Usage Note

See sneak.

Example Sentences

I ordered a salad, ate it, and in the bathroom snuck a swig of Pepto.

From The Daily Beast

War of the Worlds (1953) I snuck into a theatre with my older brother to see this one.

From The Daily Beast

Later on, in the recall phase, another set of similar objects ("lures") was snuck in.

From The Daily Beast

It's a nice surprise, then, that Lizzy Caplan snuck into the Best Actress race for her performance on Showtime's Masters of Sex.

From The Daily Beast

But while McCartney was sipping a brandy, Lennon snuck up behind the future Sir Paul and clocked him on the back of the head.

From The Daily Beast

My dad ain't afraid of anything, so me and him both armed ourselves, and we snuck up to find out what had scared the hired girl.

From Project Gutenberg

The Gophertown gent snuck up and tried to stick Billy up when Billy was readin' po'try—some of mine.

From Project Gutenberg

Before they left, the knight snuck outside, set his armor on the horse, and told it to ride back to the tower.

From Project Gutenberg

I snuck another look at him as I sped along the Disney back-roads, lined with sweaty Florida pines and immaculate purple signage.

From Project Gutenberg

The Mansion was full of little gimcracks and sly nods that snuck into your experience on each successive ride.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• ambush
• crawl
• creep
• evade
• hide
• slink
• slip
• slither
• smuggle
• steal

Is Snuck A Word?

And is snuck in the dictionary?

Snuck is a word. It is the simple past tense and past participle of the verb sneak, as in I snuck past her bedroom door. Snuck causes some confusion because sneaked is also a valid form of the past tense and past participle of sneak, as in I sneaked past her bedroom door. Snuck is the more common past tense form of sneak, however.

Snuck Vs. Sneaked

What's the difference between snuck and sneaked?

Both snuck and sneaked are acceptable past tense forms of the verb sneak.

Historically, sneaked (which is older) has been the more widely accepted version, with snuck being considered nonstandard, but snuck has a long history of use and is now very common.

Sneaked uses the regular past tense ending -ed, while snuck is an irregular verb. Irregular verbs don’t follow a set pattern in the forms of their different tenses, as in take/took/taken and sing/sang/sung.

Sneaked is more commonly used (and often preferred) in more formal contexts (though the word sneak itself can sound a bit informal).

Here are examples of how snuck and sneaked can be used interchangeably.

Example with snuck: When I was a kid, I once snuck into a movie theater, but I got caught.

Example with sneaked: When I was a kid, I once sneaked into a movie theater, but I got caught.

Want to learn more? Read the full breakdown of the difference between snuck and sneaked.

Quiz yourself on snuck vs. sneaked!

Would it be acceptable to use either snuck or sneaked in the following sentence?

He _____ back into the building to steal the documents.