Slang dictionary

snatched

[snacht]

What does snatched mean?

Is your wig still on, queen? In drag slang, snatched is “fierce” or “on point,” i.e., excellent, especially when it comes to personal appearance.

Related words

hunty, on fleek, ratchet, Black Girl Magic, Black Twitter, Beautyblender, slay, on point, Kiki

Where does snatched come from?

We can thank New York City drag culture in the 1990s for slang like hunty, slay, yaas, and snatched. Snatched specifically comes from black drag culture, where performers wear artificial hair called weaves. If something is absolutely amazing (snatched), it might just snatch your weave off, à la knock one’s socks off.

After slang like on fleek, a word with a similar nod towards perfection, fell out of favor, as slang terms do, snatched picked up steam, especially in 2016. This may have been boosted by the growing prominence of drag culture in the mainstream, thanks in part to reality TV shows like RuPaul’s Drag Race.

Examples of snatched

the only thing i got out of private school was a snatched waist from using my rolled skirt as a waist trainer every day for like 8 years jdndksjdksksk
@KROWapair, January 2019
Shade brings mutant kween realness with her snatched bright queen wig, skyhigh boots with uber pointy heel, a comical row of countless pouches on pouches on pouches on pouches across her chest ...
Brian Andersen, Advocate, January 2019

Who uses snatched?

Snatched can be used as a verbal adjective (e.g., Her makeup is snatched, look at that highlight!) or verb (e.g. His look had my wig snatched). It’s most commonly used to describe someone physically, like their appearance or their outfit. A simplified snatch is also sometimes used in the same way.

Throwing in a mention of a wig’s  or weave’s edges is common when using the term as well, as in “She just snatched my edges.”

Before it spread into the mainstream, snatched was (and still is) used mainly by the black drag community.

You can hear it used in the wild on RuPaul’s Drag Race and at your local drag show. Be mindful of wading into cultural appropriation territory if using the term.

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Note

This is not meant to be a formal definition of snatched like most terms we define on Dictionary.com, but is rather an informal word summary that hopefully touches upon the key aspects of the meaning and usage of snatched that will help our users expand their word mastery.

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