Sneak

Definition: Sneak

Sneak

Adjective

1. Marked by quiet and caution and secrecy; taking pains to avoid being observed; "a furtive manner"; "a lurking prowler"; "a sneak attack"; "stealthy footsteps"; "a surreptitious glance at his watch"; "someone skulking in the shadows".

Noun

1. Someone who prowls or sneaks about; usually with unlawful intentions.

2. Someone acting as an informer or decoy for the police.

Verb

1. To go stealthily or furtively: "..stead of sneaking around spying on the neighbor's house".

2. Put, bring, or take in a secretive or furtive manner: "sneak a look"; "sneak a cigarette".

3. Make off with belongings of others.

4. Pass on stealthily; "He slipped me the key when nobody was looking".

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "sneak" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1598. (references)

Note: Sneak \Sneak\ (sn[=e]k), intransitive verb [imperfect & past participle. Sneaked(sn[=e]kt); Sneaking.]. (references)

Multilingual Slang

Slang in 1811

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Synonyms: Sneak

Avoidance

Beat a retreat; turn tail, turn one's back; take to one's heels; runaway, run for one's life; cut and run; be off like a shot; fly, flee; fly away, flee away, run away from; take flight, take to flight; desert, elope; make off, scamper off, sneak off, shuffle off, sheer off; break away, tear oneself away, slip away, slink away, steel away, make away from, scamper away from, sneak away from, shuffle away from, sheer away from; slip cable, part company, turn one's heel; sneak out of, play truant, give one the go by, give leg bail, take French leave, slope, decamp, flit, bolt, abscond, levant, skedaddle, absquatulate, cut one's stick, walk one's chalks, show a light pair of heels, make oneself scarce; escape; go away; (depart); abandon; reject.

Bad Man

Blackguard, polisson, loafer, sneak; rapscallion, rascallion; cullion, mean wretch, varlet, kern, ame-de-boue, drole; cur, dog, hound, whelp, mongrel; lown, loon, runnion, outcast, vagabond; rogue; (knave); ronian; scum of the earth, riffraff; Arcades ambo.

Concealment

Be concealed; Verb: suffer an eclipse; retire from sight, couch; hide oneself; lie hid, lie in perdu, lie in close; lie in ambush (ambush); seclude oneself; lurk, sneak, skulk, slink, prowl; steal into, steal out of, steal by, steal along; play at bopeep, play at hide and seek; hide in holes and corners; still hunt.

Cowardice

Verb: quail; (fear); be cowardly; Adjective:, be a coward; Noun: funk; cower,skulk, sneak; flinch, shy, fight shy, slink, turn tail; run away; (avoid); show, the white feather.

Coward, poltroon, dastard, sneak, recreant; dunghill cock; coistril, milksop, white liver, lily liver, nidget, one that cannot say " bo" to a goose; slink; Bob Acres, Jerry Sneak.

Improbity

Disgrace oneself, dishonor oneself, demean oneself; derogate, stoop, grovel, sneak, lose caste; sell oneself, go over to the enemy; seal one's infamy.

Knave

Traitor, betrayer, archtraitor, conspirator, Judas, Catiline; reptile, serpent, snake in the grass, wolf in sheep's clothing, sneak, Jerry Sneak, squealer, tell-tale, mischief-maker; trimmer, fence-sitter, renegade; (tergiversation); truant, recreant; sycophant; (servility).

Servility

Sneak, crawl, crouch, cower, sponge, truckle to, grovel, fawn, lick the feet of, kiss the hem of one's garment, kiss one's ass, suck up.

Thief

Spoiler, depredator, pillager, marauder; harpy, shark, land shark, falcon, mosstrooper, bushranger, Bedouin, brigand, freebooter, bandit, thug, dacoit; pirate, corsair, viking, Paul Jones, buccaneer, buccanier; piqueerer, pickeerer; rover, ranger, privateer, filibuster; rapparee, wrecker, picaroon; smuggler, poacher; abductor, badger, bunko man, cattle thief, chor, contrabandist, crook, hawk, holdup man, hold-up, jackleg, kidnaper, rustler, cattle rustler, sandbagger, sea king, skin, sneak thief, spieler, strong-arm man.

Crosswords: Sneak

We sneak in, real quiet-- (Chicken Run; writing credit: Peter Lord; Nick Park)

Call me paranoid but I don't trust spiders, I don't trust Predacons and I don't trust dames who sneak in and out of classified areas when they think that nobody is watching (Beast Wars: Transformers; writing credit: Bob Forward; Lawrence G. DiTillio)

If you were going to take over the world, would you blow up the White House 'Independent's Day' style, or sneak in the back door (The Faculty; writing credit: David Wechter; Bruce Kimmel)

You just don't sneak up on people in a graveyard (Buffy the Vampire Slayer; writing credit: Doreen Spicer)

I bet you got to sneak up on the pumps just to get a little air in your tires (American Graffiti; writing credit: George Lucas ; Gloria Katz)

In Croix you better know I know how to sneak with them toys (If I Could Go; performing artist: Angie Martinez)

ABC Funshine Saturday Sneak Peek (1974)

Plimpton! The Great Quarterback Sneak (1971)

Hyde and Sneak (1962)

Snoop and Snitch in Triple Trouble Sneak (1941)

Sneak Easily (1932)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Books

• Four Months in a Sneak Box: From Pittsburgh to the Mouth of the Suwanee River in 1874 (reference)

• Hide and Sneak (reference)

• How to Sneak into the Movies (reference)

• No Ticket? No Problem!: How to Sneak into Sporting Events and Concerts (reference)

  (more book examples)

Periodicals

• Sneak Preview (reference)

  (more periodical examples)

Theater & Movies

• Keak Da Sneak (reference)

• Wheels 92 Sneak Preview (reference)

  (more DVD examples; more video examples)

Music

• The Sneak Attack (reference)

  (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Pearl Harbor bombing. Stricken from the air. Testifying to the extent of the Japanese sneak attacks are these three stricken U.S. battleships. Left to right: USS West Virginia, severely damaged; USS Tennessee, damaged; and USS Arizona, sunk. Credit: Library of Congress.

Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Expressions using "sneak": Jerry Sneak ♦ sneak a look ♦ sneak a look at ♦ sneak a look at smb. ♦ sneak about ♦ sneak around ♦ sneak attack ♦ sneak away ♦ sneak circuit ♦ sneak current ♦ sneak in ♦ sneak off ♦ sneak on ♦ sneak out ♦ sneak out of ♦ sneak path ♦ sneak preview ♦ sneak thief ♦ sneak up ♦ software sneak analysis. Additional references.

Beginning with "sneak": Sneak-cup, sneak-in, sneak-line, sneak-thief.

Ending with "sneak": tarot-sneak.

Albanian

shkoj vjedhurazi (tiptoe), vjedhës (burglar, cat burglar, cracksman, hooker, larcenous, lurcher, peculator, pickpocket, pilferer, prig, robber, thief), tinëzar (catlike, crafty, foxy, insidious, shifty, sly, sly person, slyboots, sneaky, stealthy, underground, underhand), kallëzoj (delate, denounce, inform, inform against, narrate, peach, rat, report, snitch, squeak, tell on), frikacak (chicken heart, chicken hearted, coward, cowardly, Craven, dastard, dastardly, faint-heart, faint-hearted, funk, milk-livered, poltroon, pusillanimous, recreant, scary, sneaking, white livered, yellow, yellowbellied, yellow-livered). (various references)

Arabic 

‏نم (gossip, snitch, tale, tattle, tell smb. smth., tell tales), ‏نظرة عابرة (furtive), ‏نشل (buy up, palm, pick, pinch, snaffle, twitch), ‏وشى (blow the whistle, intersperse, malign, nark, peachy, rat, rubricate, sing, snitch, tale, tattle, tell, tell on, tell tales, telltale, traduce), ‏غادر (blow, depart, disloyal, false, feline, get carried away, go, hop, insidious, jump, leave, pop off, quit, ratty, retire, scram, skip, snaky, snide, start, traitorous, treacherous), ‏حذاء خفيف, ‏تسلل (crept, infiltrate, infiltration, insinuate, nose, penetrate, percolate, permeation, plant, skulk, spy out, steal in, steal out, stealth), ‏سرق (convey, crib, crook, filch, hook, lift, misappropriate, mooch, nick, nobble, pick, pinch, plunder, purloin, rip off, rob, sack, steal, swipe, thieve, walk off with), ‏عابر (ephemeral, fleeting, in transit, parlous, passing, precarious, stealthy, tenuous, transient, transitory), ‏الواشي (informer, snitch), ‏إنسل (creep, lurk, steal), ‏ألقى نظرة عابرة. (various references)

Bulgarian 

крадец на дребно (lurcher, magpie, pilferer, scrounger, sneak thief), крада на дребно (crib, hook), отмъквам (carry away, collar, drag off, pilfer, pinch, rip off, scrounge, snaffle, swipe, whip off), наклеветявам (peach, tell on), задигам (bag, carry away, filch, finger, grab, lift, mooch, nip, pinch, prig, run away with, scarp, scrounge, snaffle, swipe, walk off with), промъквам (edge, insinuate, slip through), подлец (bastard, blackguard, caitiff, creep, dastard, hangdog, ratface, recreant, reprobate, scoundrel, skunk, sneaker, snot, twerp, villain, wretch, yellow dog), извършен тайно, извършен без предупреждение, измъкване (elusion, extrication, guy, scuttle), издайнича, доносник (calumniator, communicant, delator, grass, informant, informer, rat, snitch, squeaker, stool pigeon, telltale, whisperer), дебна (ambush, be on the lurk, be on the prowl, mouse, prowl, shadow, skulk, slink about, stalk, trail, watch, waylay). (various references)

Chinese 

潛行 , 告密者 (snitch, squealer, tipster). (various references)

Czech

tichošlápek (creep), potmìšilec, plížit se (creep, slink, steal, steal away), přikrást se, žalovat (prosecute, squeal, tell on), žalobníèek, šlohnout (bag, swipe). (various references)

Danish

uoensket signalvej (sneak path), programkontrolanalyse (software sneak analysis), krybestrømvej (sneak circuit). (various references)

Dutch

software-sluipweganalyse (software sneak analysis), Sneak-reactiviteitsmeter (Sneak reactivity meter), kruipweg (sneak path). (various references)

Farsi 

حرکت پنهانی , خودراپنهان ساختن , دزدکی حرکت ه کردن . (various references)

Finnish

hiipiä (slink away, slip, steal). (various references)

French

se glisser, resquiller, regard furtif, rapporteur, piquer (snaffle, snitch), moucharder (snitch), mouchard (snitch), grincheux, glissement, furtif, faucher, cafarder (snitch), cafard, brusque (snappy, snippy). (various references)

German

schleichen (crawl, creep, prowl, sidle, skulk, slink, slunk, steal, tiptoe, to skulk, to sneak). (various references)

Greek 

έρπω (crawl, creep, cringe, grovel), ύπουλοσ (catty, hangdog, insidious, insinuate, perfidious, shady, sneaker, sneaky, underhand, underhanded), σπιούνοσ (informer, nark, snoop), πηγαίνω υπουλώσ, πηγαίνω λαθραίωσ, χαμερπήσ (base, caitiff, cringer, groveller, sneaky, toadyish, vile), φεύγω κρυφά (abscond, slink off). (various references)

Hebrew 

לחמוק (avoid, evade, slink, slip), להלשין (betray, calumniate, inform against, nark, slander, tell on, tell tales), להתחמק (dodge, elude, eschew, evade, get away, get out, hedge, run around, shirk, stall, wriggle), להתגנב (creep, insinuate, pussyfoot, slink, slip, steal, steal away). (various references)

Hungarian

spicli (beagle, fink, informer, lurker, snoop, squealer, stool pigeon). (various references)

Indonesian

pengecut (abject, coward, dastard, faint, faint-hearted, poltroon, unmanly, white-livered), mencuri (bone, filch, nab, pilfer, thieve). (various references)

Italian

strisciare (crawl, creep, cringe, drag, grovel, scrabble, scrape, seals, slink, slither, tiptoe), squagliarsela (levant), spione (telltale), vigliacco (caitiff, coward, cowardly, dastard, fig, gutless, poltroon), individuo infimo, fregare (cheat, pinch, rip off, rub, rubbing, short-change, spoof, trick), fare spia, fare di nascosto, anteprima (preview). (various references)

Japanese Kanji 

卑劣漢 (despicable person, heel, mean bastard). (various references)

Japanese Katakana 

ひれつかん (despicable person, heel, mean bastard). (various references)

Korean 

좀도둑 (Pilferer). (various references)

Manx

steet (creep, creep of person, knave, pimp), snoagyraght (sneaking), snoagerey, snoag, sleetchal (loitering, lurk, lurking, sneaking), sleetch (deceitful person, loiterer, loiterer with intent, lurker, nark, slime, slippery person), skeetal (pry, sneaking), skeet (news). (various references)

Pig Latin

eaksnay.(various references)

Portuguese

homem vil, esgueirar-se (slide), deslocar-se pela calada, deslocar (disjoint, dislocate, edge, fork, luxate, move, offset, remove, shift, splay, translocate), bola rasteira, andar furtivamente, aluno delator. (various references)

Romanian

subtiliza (lift, nobble, subtilize), sfeterisi (knock off, lift, make away with, nobble, pick, prig), se furişa (crawl, creep, filter, mouse about, slink, slip, steal, wriggle), pârî (denounce), codoş (go between, pander, pimp, procurer, telltale), denunţãtor (approver, delator, denouncer, denunciator, informer, telltale), furişa (skulk, squeeze), laş (base-spirited, chicken hearted, coward, cowardly, Craven, cur, dastard, dastardly, faint-hearted, funk, hen-hearted, invertebrate, lily livered, milk-livered, mollycoddle, pigeon-hearted, poltroon, recreant, sneaky, unmanly, white livered, yellow), nemernic (base, cad, caitiff, felon, foul, rascal, rascally, reprobate, scamp, scoundrel, sneaking, son of a gun, villain, wretch, wretched), încãlţãminte care nu face zgomot, om perfid (serpent), turnãtor (caster, denunciator, founder, grass, molder, moulder, telltale), pantofi de tenis, ticãlos (a bad egg, base, cad, canting, cur, dark, dirty, felon, foul, heel, hound, impious, kite, knave, knavish, knavishly, low-minded, mean, meanly, miscreant, paltry, perverse, picaroon, rapscallion, rascal, rascally, recreant, reprobate, ruffian, scab, scabby, scamp, scoundrel, scurvy, serpentine, shabby, skunk, sneaking, vile, villain, villainous, wretch, wretched), transporta pe ascuns, netrebnic (a dirty dog, good for nothing, knave, knavish, picaroon, rascal, reprobate, scab, useless, vile, villain, worthless, wretch). (various references)

Russian 

красться внезапный, красться (skulk, slink, snuck, tiptoe), доносчик (checker, delator, denunciator, fink, informer, nark, noser, rat, sneaker, snitch, squeaker, squeal, squealer, tattletale, whistle-blower, whistler), доносить (denounce, inform, inform against, nark, nose on, report, tell on). (various references)

Scottish

snàig (crawl, creep), snàg (crawl), cùiltear (skulker). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian

prikradati se (approach stealthily), šunjati se (slink, sneak around), šunjalo. (various references)

Spanish

soplarse (blow, snitch, tell on), soplón (fink, grass, informer, nark, sneaky, snitch, squealer, tattler, telltale), robar a hurtadillas, imprevisto (improvisation, sudden, unexpected, unprovided), furtivo (furtive, hole-and-corner, sly, sneaking, sneaky, stealthy), chivato (tattletale), birlar (bone, knock down, knock off, lift, mooch, Nick, nobble, snaffle, whip), afanar (agonize, snaffle, toil), acusón. (various references)

Swedish

smyga sig (mooch, sidle, skulk, steal). (various references)

Thai

แอบพาไป, ทำลับๆ ล่อๆ, ซึ่งลับๆ ล่อๆ (furtive), คนชอบทำลับๆ ล่อๆ. (various references)

Turkish

sinsi tip (hangdog), sinsi kimse (insidious person, skulker, weasel), sessizce sokulmak (cat-foot), yürütmek (collar, filch, go through with, hold down, lift, make away with, Nick, pilfer, prig, prosecute, purloin, pursue, push, scrounge, snaffle, wage, walk, walk away with, walk off with), korkak (caitiff, chicken, chicken hearted, chicken-livered, cissy, coward, cowardly, Craven, dastardly, dingo, faint, faintheart, fainthearted, fearful, funk, funky, gutless, hen-hearted, lily livered, milksop, milquetoast, pigeon livered, pigeonhearted, poltroon, poor spirited, pusillanimous, rabbit, recreant, scary, sissy, skulking, sneaking, sneaky, spiritless, timid, unmanly, weak-spirited, white livered, yellow, yellow dog), ispiyonlamak (fink on, rat, snitch, snitch on, split on, spy on, squeal, tell on smb.), ispiyon (spy, squeal), gizlice yapmak, gizlice girmek (infiltrate), gammazlamak (delate, inform agains, peach, shop), alçak (abandoned, abject, base, baseborn, blackguard, contemptible, cowardly, dastardly, heel, humble, ignoble, lousy, low, low down, lowrise, misbegotten, nasty, nefarious, no good, rascally, ravisher, recreant, scoundrel, scoundrelly, short, sneaking, sneaky, sordid, squat, swab, swob, vile, villainous), çalmak (abstract, adopt, bag, beat, beat out, blow, chime, cop, crib, defalcate, filch, finger, grind, grind out, heist, hijack, hoist, hook, hoot, incline, jangle, jingle, knelt, knock, knock off, lift, make off with, mooch, nobble, peal, pilfer, pinch, play, plunder, rap, render, ring, rustle, scrounge, snitch, sound, steal, strike, swipe, tend, thieve, toll, twang, verge, verge into, verge on, walk away with, walk off with, whip). (various references)

Turkmen 

bukdaklamak (creep). (various references)

Ukrainian

ябедничати (tell tales), раболіпствувати (cringe, kotow), крастися (creep, leer, lurk, prowl, skulk), вислизати (slink away, slink off, twist out), злодій (gunsmith, nimmer, picaroon, prowler, robber, rogue, snatcher, thief), боятися (be afraid, dread, fear, funk), боягуз (capon, chicken-liver, coward, cur, niddering, piker, quitter, rabbit, recreant), підлабузник (back scratcher, bootlicker, camp follower, crawler, earthworm, flunkey, groveller, onhanger, reptile, zany). (various references)

Vietnamese 

người hay vụng trộm, người hay ném đá giấu tay, người hay lén lút, người đáng khinh (toad, worm, yellow dog). (various references)

Welsh

llechgi, chwiwgi (rogue, thief). (various references)

Derivations

Words beginning with "sneak": sneaked, sneaker, sneakered, sneakers, sneakier, sneakiest, sneakily, sneakiness, sneakinesses, sneaking, sneakingly, sneaks, sneaky. (additional references)

Misspellings

"Sneak" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Ineka, sancak, Sangak, sanjak, Sanouko, seka, senak, Senaki, Senjak, Senkaki, senkaku, Sevak, sheak, Sheka, sleak, snaa, snaac, snae, snak, snaok, snea, sneake, snear, sneat, snee, sneek, snek, snoa, snoak, snoek, sqeak, Usnea. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

Direct Anagrams: kanes, skean, snake.

-1 letter: anes, kaes, kane, keas, kens, sake, sane, sank.

-2 letters: ane, ask, ens, kae, kas, kea, ken, nae, sae, sea, sen, ska.

-3 letters: ae, an, as, en, es, ka, na, ne.

+1 letter: akenes, ankles, kenafs, kinase, knaves, kneads, pekans, shaken, skeane, skeans, snaked, snakes, snakey, sneaks, sneaky, wakens.

+2 letters: alkanes, alkenes, alkines, alkynes, anankes, anklets, ankuses, askance, awakens, bankers, cankers, dankest, darkens, deskman, embanks, hankers, hankies, harkens, intakes, kalends, kamseen, khazens, kinases, kinemas, knawels, krakens, kyanise, lankest, rankers, rankest, rankles, shanked, sinkage, skeanes, slacken, snacked, snakier, sneaked, sneaker, sokeman, spanked, spanker, swanked, swanker, tankers, unasked, uncakes, unmakes, unspeak, weakens.