snatch

1 of 2

verb

ˈsnach 

snatched; snatching; snatches

intransitive verb

: to attempt to seize something suddenly

transitive verb

: to take or grasp abruptly or hastily

snatch up a pen

snatched the first opportunity

also : to seize or take suddenly without permission, ceremony, or right

snatched a kiss

snatcher noun

snatch

2 of 2

noun

1

a

: a brief period

caught snatches of sleep

b

: a brief, fragmentary, or hurried part : bit

caught snatches of the conversation

2

a

: a snatching at or of something

b

slang : an act or instance of kidnapping

3

: a lift in weight lifting in which the weight is raised from the floor directly to an overhead position in a single motion compare clean and jerk, press

4

vulgar : the female pudenda

Synonyms

Verb

• bag
• capture
• catch
• collar
• cop [slang]
• corral
• get
• glom
• grab
• grapple
• hook
• land
• nab
• nail
• net
• nobble [British slang]
• rap
• seize
• snag
• snap (up)
• snare
• trap

Noun

• abduction
• hijacking
• highjacking
• kidnapping
• kidnaping
• rape

Choose the Right Synonym for snatch

take, seize, grasp, clutch, snatch, grab mean to get hold of by or as if by catching up with the hand.

take is a general term applicable to any manner of getting something into one's possession or control.

take some salad from the bowl

seize implies a sudden and forcible movement in getting hold of something tangible or an apprehending of something fleeting or elusive when intangible.

seized the suspect

grasp stresses a laying hold so as to have firmly in possession.

grasp the handle and pull

clutch suggests avidity or anxiety in seizing or grasping and may imply less success in holding.

clutching her purse

snatch suggests more suddenness or quickness but less force than seize.

snatched a doughnut and ran

grab implies more roughness or rudeness than snatch.

grabbed roughly by the arm

Examples of snatch in a Sentence

Verb

An eagle swooped down and snatched one of the hens.

She snatched the toy from his hands.

Noun

to the police chief, it didn't look like a snatch, but another case of a bride-to-be getting cold feet

Recent Examples on the Web

Verb

Before Amber could join her brother, according to one witness, a man in a black pick-up truck pulled into the parking lot, snatched Amber off her bicycle and took off. —Emily Krauser, People.com, 29 Apr. 2025

Then there is, in Walker’s view, the holy grail of art crime: The 13 works, including paintings by Rembrandt, Édouard Manet and Edgar Degas, snatched from Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in a notorious 1990 heist. —Oscar Holland, CNN Money, 27 Apr. 2025

Noun

While there hasn’t been a particular rash of private sales scams in the city lately, Bosques recalled a case the FBI cracked with the help of a Fremont detective who was investigating a snatch-and-grab robbery at a coffee shop in 2012. —Joseph Geha, The Mercury News, 8 June 2017

The text, sung by two sopranos, may well have been in Esperanto, as only snatches were decipherable. —Alan G. Artner, chicagotribune.com, 4 June 2017

Word History

Etymology

Verb

Middle English snacchen to snap, seize; akin to Middle Dutch snacken to snap at

First Known Use

Verb

13th century, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense

Noun

1563, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Phrases Containing snatch

• snatch at
• snatch block

Rhymes for snatch

• bache
• batch
• brach
• catch
• hatch
• latch
• mache
• match
• patch
• rach
• scratch
• tache

Kids Definition

snatch

1 of 2 verb

ˈsnach 

1

: to seize or try to seize something quickly or suddenly

2

: to grasp or take suddenly or hastily : grab

snatcher noun

snatch

2 of 2 noun

1

a

: a brief period

slept in snatches

b

: something brief, hurried, or in small bits

2

: a snatching at or of something