nabs

verb

present tense third-person singular of nab
1
as in seizes
to take or keep under one's control by authority of law the officer nabbed the purse snatcher before he could escape

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in grabs
to take physical control or possession of (something) suddenly or forcibly a pickpocket nabbed my wallet

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of nabs Loukeman, who mixed the record and nabs a couple co-production credits, proves a real asset to getting this across. — Hattie Lindert, Pitchfork, 5 Nov. 2026 The new skating game from Undercoders nabs a 4-star rating from our reviewer. — Randy McMullen, Mercury News, 27 Aug. 2026 The 11 Pro Fold nabs $2,249 from your bank account, which is already pricey, but the Z Fold 8 requires an extra $250 for the same configuration. — Kimberly Gedeon, PC Magazine, 16 Aug. 2026 Simultaneously, Lefty nabs her first career appearance on the Billboard Global Excl. — Hugh McIntyre, Forbes.com, 25 July 2026 Dutch team nabs 17 bikes from KC shop. — Eleanor Nash, Kansas City Star, 12 June 2026 Now, DeLuz just wants to make sure Hilton nabs one of those top two spots, especially after intense sparring with fading Republican candidate Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco. — Terry Collins, USA Today, 1 June 2026 Tampa Bay passes up on a few top edge rushers here (Miami’s Akheem Mesidor and Auburn’s Keldric Faulk) because of the depth at the position and instead nabs McCoy before a few other corner-needy teams. — Andrew Callahan, Boston Herald, 23 Apr. 2026 Infielder Chris Hacopian barrels a ball, but Jaquae Stewart nabs it right before the warning track. — Caleb Yum, Austin American Statesman, 17 Mar. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for nabs
  1. seizes
  2. grabs
  3. arrests
  4. catches
  5. apprehends
  6. snatches
  7. detains
  8. captures
Verb
  • Now, her family must reckon with the consequences as Agnes van Rhijn seizes an opportunity to regain her position.
    — Michael Schneider, Variety, 5 Nov. 2026
  • Sid is smart enough to sniff this out, and the show seizes the opportunity to raise the romantic stakes through an adorably British expression of mutual libidinousness.
    — Scott Tobias, Vulture, 14 Oct. 2026
Definition of seizes
Verb
  • Lithium grabs the spotlight, but cheap and abundant sodium has long held the key to large-scale energy storage.
    — Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 3 Nov. 2026
  • Testing spoons stored in a manner where lip contact surface contamination could happen when employee grabs the spoon from container.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 2 Nov. 2026
Definition of grabs
Verb
  • Keith arrests our thinking, and cons us into suppressing our critical faculties with the same kind of internalized surveillance that philosopher Michel Foucault broke down to describe a prison’s use of the panopticon in Discipline and Punish.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 19 May 2026
  • Devlin throws a punch at Stone when the chief arrests him for drunken driving.
    — Sandra Dallas, Denver Post, 19 Apr. 2026
Definition of arrests
Verb
  • The single most suspicious thing Johnny does, though, is be at Carla’s while everyone else is at the office working late the night before court, not that anyone catches that.
    — Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 6 Nov. 2026
  • No security tool catches every threat, so continue checking unexpected messages carefully.
    — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 6 Nov. 2026
Definition of catches
Verb
  • John Early, as anyone encountering his work soon apprehends, chooses the latter.
    — Lauren Michele Jackson, New Yorker, 7 June 2026
  • Though the team immediately apprehends a suspect, the Marshals end up taking criticism from both sides.
    — Saman Shafiq, USA Today, 21 Mar. 2026
Definition of apprehends
Verb
  • When a child sets a top in motion, the philosopher snatches it, believing that understanding any small thing, even a spinning top, would be enough to understand everything.
    — Stacy Keltner, The Conversation, 30 Oct. 2026
  • In the midst of handing the job over to his son, even as Diego is making a speech about water supplies, hygiene and education, Don Alejandro snatches it back to cheers, clutches his heart and dies.
    — Television Critic, Los Angeles Times, 30 June 2026
Definition of snatches
Verb
  • The Midwest Regional Reception Center detains close to 500 fathers, mothers, spouses, cousins and friends on behalf of ICE.
    — Eleanor Nash, Kansas City Star, 18 Aug. 2026
  • The policy guidance applies to agents under Enforcement and Removal Operations, the branch of ICE that detains and ultimately deports undocumented immigrants.
    — Philip Wang, Time, 14 July 2026
Definition of detains
Verb
  • Our Featured Artist Joost Stokhof captures his surroundings in spontaneous lines.
    — New York Times Games, New York Times, 5 Nov. 2026
  • The optical assembly designed to record the distributions of iron ions in the corona is outfitted with astrocameras, each of which captures spectra from a different ionic species.
    — IEEE Spectrum, IEEE Spectrum, 5 Nov. 2026
Definition of captures

Browse Nearby Words

nabobs
nabs
nacreous
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Cite this Entry

“Nabs.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/nabs. Accessed 10 Nov. 2026.

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