as in shaving
to make (something) shorter or smaller with the use of a cutting instrument
snipped the loose ends
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Recent Examples of snipping
Police are searching for a straphanger suspected of unbolting a door switch from a inside a downtown C train Monday evening, snipping the wires and then absconding with the train part, sources tell the Daily News.
—
Evan Simko-Bednarski, New York Daily News, 14 May 2026
Nguyen’s striking direction in the scenes in which Kristen faces her future in the hospital elevates the maudlin material, especially after Kristen makes the choice to lose a leg in the hopes of snipping the cancer in the bud.
—Marya E. Gates, IndieWire, 13 May 2026
Its DuoScrub rotary mops apply downward pressure to erase stains, while a specialized hair-snipping brush eliminates manual detangling.
—Juhi Wadia, PC Magazine, 6 May 2026
One enzyme acts as a random chopper, snipping the long polymer chains into smaller pieces, while the other slowly chews these pieces into their monomer building units from each end.
—Prabhat Ranjan Mishra, Interesting Engineering, 3 May 2026
This is easily accomplished by snipping the smaller ones (when a few inches tall) beneath the soil line instead of uprooting them, which could disturb the roots of the single seedling in each cluster.
—Joshua Siskin, Oc Register, 1 May 2026
Brushing past a pot of rosemary on the way to the grill, or snipping mint for a drink, makes the garden feel personal in a way that purely ornamental plantings cannot.
—Lauren Jarvis-Gibson, Sacbee.com, 28 Apr. 2026
Lilac standards require little pruning other than snipping spent flower blossoms and clipping back stems in early summer to maintain shape.
—Megan Hughes, Better Homes & Gardens, 6 Apr. 2026
Heckel crowed with delight as Strong tried paper, snipping her classmate’s fingers with scissors to complete the sweep.
—Emily Adams, Hartford Courant, 16 Mar. 2026
Evan Simko-Bednarski, New York Daily News, 14 May 2026
Nguyen’s striking direction in the scenes in which Kristen faces her future in the hospital elevates the maudlin material, especially after Kristen makes the choice to lose a leg in the hopes of snipping the cancer in the bud.
—Marya E. Gates, IndieWire, 13 May 2026
Its DuoScrub rotary mops apply downward pressure to erase stains, while a specialized hair-snipping brush eliminates manual detangling.
—Juhi Wadia, PC Magazine, 6 May 2026
One enzyme acts as a random chopper, snipping the long polymer chains into smaller pieces, while the other slowly chews these pieces into their monomer building units from each end.
—Prabhat Ranjan Mishra, Interesting Engineering, 3 May 2026
This is easily accomplished by snipping the smaller ones (when a few inches tall) beneath the soil line instead of uprooting them, which could disturb the roots of the single seedling in each cluster.
—Joshua Siskin, Oc Register, 1 May 2026
Brushing past a pot of rosemary on the way to the grill, or snipping mint for a drink, makes the garden feel personal in a way that purely ornamental plantings cannot.
—Lauren Jarvis-Gibson, Sacbee.com, 28 Apr. 2026
Lilac standards require little pruning other than snipping spent flower blossoms and clipping back stems in early summer to maintain shape.
—Megan Hughes, Better Homes & Gardens, 6 Apr. 2026
Heckel crowed with delight as Strong tried paper, snipping her classmate’s fingers with scissors to complete the sweep.
—Emily Adams, Hartford Courant, 16 Mar. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for snipping
Verb
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This awesome little robovac-mop is literally shaving a full workday a week off her already insane I'm-a-mom schedule.—
Joe Salas
May 09,
New Atlas,
9 May 2026
-
Sobbing while shaving head in…what’s that movie?—
Bethy Squires,
Vulture,
9 May 2026
Verb
-
The Tempo didn’t make things easy, cutting the deficit to two points late and later trailing by just three with 31 seconds remaining and possession of the ball.—
Marisa Ingemi,
Los Angeles Times,
16 May 2026
-
The bridge demonstrates a new, lighter approach to low-carbon infrastructure, cutting waste and CO₂ by depositing concrete only where needed.—
Srishti Gupta,
Interesting Engineering,
16 May 2026
Verb
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Mamdani’s Executive Budget rightly addresses some of this excess, trimming DOC’s uniformed headcount by 586 positions, and putting the city on track to save $78 million next year.—
Jason Rodriguez,
New York Daily News,
16 May 2026
-
The conglomerate also fully exited Amazon after trimming the position late last year.—
Yun Li,
CNBC,
15 May 2026
Verb
-
Since then, and especially over the past year, clipping has gone professional.—
Lane Brown,
Vulture,
15 May 2026
-
Thin Extra Seedlings After the seeds sprout and are a few inches tall with true leaves, thin out the weakest plants by clipping them off at the soil line with scissors.—
Lauren Landers,
Better Homes & Gardens,
13 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Snipping.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/snipping. Accessed 17 May. 2026.
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