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Glite Dictionary
to snap at

to snap at

22 4.3
Bite quickly with a short, sharp movement of the mouth
  • phrasal verb
  • /snæp æt/
translation icon : morder
  • The hungry dog suddenly snapped at the squirrel that dared to come too close.
  • snapped at the dog
  • snapped at her hand
  • snapped at people

Examples

  • She was startled when the crab snapped at her fingers while she was wading in the shallow water.

  • As the children approached, the angry horse snapped at them, warning them to stay away.

  • I hate it when you snap at me.

    The Quiet (2005)

  • I dropped the hook and she snapped at it.

    Sunset Boulevard (1950)

  • I'm really sorry I snapped at you earlier.

    Amityville Poltergeist (2020)

  • You don't have to snap at me.

    Killing Zoe (1993)

  • I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you.

    Maybe Shower (2018)

  • I've been unhappy, and I'm starting to snap at people at work, and it's not fair to them.

    Drive-Away Dolls (2024)

  • Leaning over as far as he could, he snapped at the other dog to get his bone.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • Shiloh got to his feet and snapped at the bats that flew too near.

    Fiction book (1998)

Synonyms

to nip
vsto snap at
55 4.6

To pinch quickly with fingers or teeth

focuses on a sudden jaw movement aiming to bite
to nip at
vsto snap at
4 6.1

To bite or pinch something lightly, often in a playful way

is a sudden sharper bite often with strong jaw action

Antonyms

nibble
12 3.2

A small, gentle bite often made carefully by an animal or person

How Aggressive

to maul
  • NSFW
29 7.2
chomp
6 5.3
to bite
768 1.0
to snap at
22 4.3
nip
11 6.3

Surface Forms

snap at infinitive
snapped at past
snapped at past participle
snapping at present participle
snaps at third person singular

Morphology

snap + at

The meaning 'to bite or try to bite quickly' is directly built from 'snap' (a sudden biting or seizing motion) plus the preposition 'at' which marks the target of that action, so the overall sense is compositional. This verb + preposition pattern is common and cross-linguistically familiar, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents should be able to infer the meaning.

Etymology

Snap at comes from a simple picture: an animal opens its mouth and makes a quick, sharp bite, a snap, toward a person or thing, the at part. That's why it means 'to bite or try to bite quickly and suddenly'.