✏️ To break suddenly 😠 To speak sharply 🫰 To make a sound 🤏 To grab quickly 📸 To take a photo 📸 A quick photo 🏈 A ball handoff 🔊 A sharp sound 👌 An easy task 🧥 A clothing fastener ❄️ Cold period 🏈 To pass in football 🍪 A crisp cookie 🫘 A green bean 🪀 Elasticity

to snap

65 1.6

Grab something quickly with a sudden motion

verb
/snæp/

: agarrar

She reached out to snap the cookie from the plate before anyone else could take it.

And this guy was snapping people's jaws, snapping the screws jaws and stuff.

Examples

I set two sections of white picket fence next to the tree and snapped them together.

Fiction book (1992)
Cox peers out from under his cap and snaps the ball sidearm to Robinson.

Fiction book (1992)
I think you can like snap them together.
I'm just going to snap my fingers and move on.
In your place, I'd snap him up before some other lady takes a fancy to him.

Fiction book (1990)
Maybe you could snap him out of his slump.

Goon (2012)
And just snap your fingers and voila, it's there.
All I have to do is snap my fingers and they'll be here.

Last Action Hero (1993)
Let's just snap the rotor back on the motor.
Badooki would bark at snow and snap at flakes as if they were flies.

Fiction book (1992)

Synonyms

to snatch

vsto snap

136 3.0

To take something quickly with your hand

is similar but also often uses jaws as well as hands in the grab

to pounce

vsto snap

54 4.1

To jump suddenly onto something to grab or attack it

is similar but is more about a physical attack than just a grab

to snatch up

vsto snap

24 4.6

To grab something quickly, often before someone else

is similar but often involves a quicker bite or sudden hand movement

to take hold

vsto snap

15 2.0

To grasp something with your hands

is quicker and more sudden and may use jaws as well

to snap up

vsto snap

14 3.7

Buy something quickly before other people do

is a sudden physical grab using hands or jaws rather than buying

to swoop up

vsto snap

1 4.2

Pick something up quickly by moving down fast

is similar but can be any sudden catch using hands or jaws

Antonyms

to release

∞ 1.8

To let someone or something go free from being held

to drop

∞ 1.0

To let something fall suddenly or by accident

Idioms

in a snap

Informal

3 3.0

It happens very quickly with little effort

in the snap of someone's fingers

Informal

5.0

Happens very quickly

to snap someone's head off

Offensive

8.0

To speak to someone in a sudden angry way without good reason

Phrasal Verbs

to snap at

22 4.3

Bite quickly with a short, sharp movement of the mouth

to snap up

14 3.7

Buy something quickly before other people do

to snap off

9 3.5

To break a piece from something with a quick, sharp movement

to snap back

Informal

5 3.8

Get better quickly after a setback or illness

Compounds

snap judgment

Informal

7 4.8

A quick decision made without careful thought that may be unfair

cold snap

6 3.2

A short sudden time of very cold weather that is colder than usual

snap pea

3 3.3

A pea with crisp pods you eat whole

ginger snap

2 2.3

A small crisp round cookie with ginger and warm spices

sugar snap pea

1 2.5

A sweet pea with a crisp round pod that you can eat whole, raw or cooked

snap bean

1 2.7

A tender green bean you eat young that breaks easily and has no strings

snap brim

1 8.8

The edge of a hat that can be turned up on one side and down on the other

happy snap

1 8.2

A quick picture taken to show a happy moment

snap fastener

Specialized

1 3.4

A small thing on clothes or bags that joins two pieces by pressing two round parts together

snap line

Specialized

1 5.6

A string with chalk on it that you stretch and snap to mark a straight line

snap-brim hat

1 7.3

A hat with a brim you can turn up or down

snap roll

Specialized

1 9.0

A very quick, complete rotation of a plane around its nose-to-tail line while flying straight

snip-snap

1 9.1

Short lively talk where people answer each other quickly

snap willow

8.6

A large willow tree with stiff branches that break easily

snap ring

Specialized

6.0

A metal loop with a spring clip for quickly attaching rope or gear

snip-snap banter

9.0

A quick, funny talk where people tease each other playfully

How Fast

to seize

277 3.2

to snatch

136 3.0

to snap

65 1.6

to grab

∞ 1.0

to take

∞ 2.8

Surface Forms

snap infinitive

snapped past

snapped past participle

snapping present participle

snaps third person singular

Etymology

Snap originally copied a quick sharp noise and is also like old German words meaning 'to grab', so to snap something is to catch or take it in one fast motion.