snare
/snɛ(ə)ɹ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.25 in modern English
5
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A mental or psychological trap.
noun
A set of stiff wires held under tension against the bottom head of a drum to create a rattling sound.
noun
A snare drum.
Example Sentences
- "He […] watched Beavis’s long-toothed mouth open and clap to like a rabbit snare."
- "He felt a snare tightening around his throat; he gasped and threw a leg out of the bed, where it jerked for a second or two, thumping the steel frame, and died."
- "If thou retire, the Dauphin, well appointed, Stands with the snares of war to tangle thee:"
- "[…] if thou serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto thee."
- "[…] and I had now liv’d two Years under these Uneasinesses, which indeed made my Life much less comfortable than it was before; as may well be imagin’d by any who know what it is to live in the constant Snare of the Fear of Man […]"
- "“[…] riches are a great snare.”"
Etymology
From Middle English snare, from Old English sneare (“snare, noose”), from Proto-West Germanic *snarhā, from Proto-Germanic *snarhǭ (“a sling; loop; noose”). Cognate with Old Norse snara. Also related to German Schnur and Dutch snaar, snoer.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: snare, sneare, *snarhā, *snarhǭ, -
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /snɛ(ə)ɹ/
- British English: /snɛə/
Usage
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Medicine.