SNIP (snipped, snipping)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: snipped    , snipping   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does snip mean? 

• SNIP (noun)
  The noun SNIP has 2 senses:

1. a small piece of anything (especially a piece that has been snipped off)

2. the act of clipping or snipping

  Familiarity information: SNIP used as a noun is rare.

• SNIP (verb)
  The verb SNIP has 2 senses:

1. sever or remove by pinching or snipping

2. cultivate, tend, and cut back the growth of

  Familiarity information: SNIP used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SNIP (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A small piece of anything (especially a piece that has been snipped off)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

snip; snippet; snipping

Hypernyms ("snip" is a kind of...):

piece (a separate part of a whole)

Derivation:

snip (cultivate, tend, and cut back the growth of)

snip (sever or remove by pinching or snipping)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The act of clipping or snipping

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

clip; clipping; snip

Hypernyms ("snip" is a kind of...):

cut; cutting; cutting off (the act of shortening something by chopping off the ends)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "snip"):

nip; pinch (a small sharp bite or snip)

Derivation:

snip (cultivate, tend, and cut back the growth of)

snip (sever or remove by pinching or snipping)

• SNIP (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they snip    ... he / she / it snips   
Past simple: snipped   
Past participle: snipped   
-ing form: snipping   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Sever or remove by pinching or snipping

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

clip; nip; nip off; snip; snip off

Context example:

nip off the flowers

Hypernyms (to "snip" is one way to...):

cut (separate with or as if with an instrument)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Derivation:

snip (the act of clipping or snipping)

snip; snipping (a small piece of anything (especially a piece that has been snipped off))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Cultivate, tend, and cut back the growth of

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

clip; crop; cut back; dress; lop; prune; snip; trim

Context example:

dress the plants in the garden

Hypernyms (to "snip" is one way to...):

thin out (make sparse)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "snip"):

shear (cut with shears)

poll; pollard (convert into a pollard)

pinch; top (cut the top off)

disbud (thin out buds to improve the quality of the remaining flowers)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

snip (the act of clipping or snipping)

snip (a small piece of anything (especially a piece that has been snipped off))

 Context examples 

Short as the two snips are, you can distinctly see the same slight curve in each.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

When he had made two snips, he saw the little Red-Cap shining, and then he made two snips more, and the little girl sprang out, crying: Ah, how frightened I have been!

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Well, I won't, but I hate to see things going all crisscross and getting snarled up, when a pull here and a snip there would straighten it out.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

The paper is cut off in two snips with a short-bladed scissors.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

As the height of luxury, Meg put out some of her sewing, and then found time hang so heavily, that she fell to snipping and spoiling her clothes in her attempts to furbish them up a la Moffat.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

In her anger she clutched Rapunzel’s beautiful tresses, wrapped them twice round her left hand, seized a pair of scissors with the right, and snip, snap, they were cut off, and the lovely braids lay on the ground.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)