to snatch

Examples

• All

• And so yesterday, people found out that the federal government was snatching children as young as eight months from their parents.

• Aliens had brought her to twenty-first-century Spain, then snatched her away again.

  Fiction book (2002)

• You will snatch up the hostage and carry him to safety.

  Mystery Men (1999)

• A big old crow could come and snatch her away for all I care.

  Fiction book (1992)

• There really are only a handful of organizations in the entire world that can snatch somebody off a street like that.

  Tiffany McKinley: Sailor (2014)

• Immediately, both girls are snatched by male hands and spun into the dancing center of the room.

  Fiction book (1992)

• Gwen, Emery, and Nesta had been snatched from their beds.

  cari can read

• Roxanne wondered what she would do if her ex-husband snatched the kid on one of his infrequent visitations.

  Fiction book (2000)

• The wife of a jeweler had been snatched from her home by two armed men.

• Shortly after, local police entered our home and snatched my older brother from his bed.

Synonyms

C

to capture

vsto snatch

884 2.8

To catch and take control of someone or something after a chase

is used for taking someone to demand a ransom rather than after a chase

K

to kidnap

vsto snatch

• NSFW

632 4.0

Take someone away by force to demand money or other conditions

is mainly used for taking someone to demand a ransom

S

to seize

vsto snatch

277 3.2

To take control of a place or person quickly, often by force

focuses on taking someone to demand a ransom rather than general capture

A

to abduct

vsto snatch

• NSFW

180 8.0

To take someone away by force or trick to get money

is more specifically about taking someone to demand a ransom

S

to snatch up

vsto snatch

24 4.6

To grab something quickly, often before someone else

involves taking a person by force often to demand a ransom

Antonyms

R

to release

∞ 1.8

To let someone or something go free from being held

R

to return

∞ 1.0

Give something back to its owner or the place it came from

Idioms

S

to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory

• Informal

1 9.6

A team or person loses an almost certain win in the final minute because of a mistake

S

to snatch the pebble

9.9

To show you are very good at a skill after a lot of practice

Phrasal Verbs

S

to snatch up

24 4.6

To grab something quickly, often before someone else

S

to snatch the opportunity

3.9

To take a chance quickly before other people do

S

to snatch someone's purse

7.7

Grab someone's handbag quickly and run away to steal it

Compounds

S

snatch and run

1 7.3

To steal something quickly and run away

S

snatch block

• Specialized

9.3

A pulley that opens so you can place a rope inside without passing the end through

How Violent

to kidnap

• NSFW

632 4.0

to snatch

• NSFW

55 7.2

to take

∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

Etymology