Meaning & use
snacking
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“snacking” is a form of “snack”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meanings
noununcountable
The habit of eating small amounts of food between meals.
Grammar: No article: snacking is easy at home.
Patterns
- snacking between meals
- mindless snacking
Late-night snacking made it hard for him to lose weight.
Snacking on fruit is better than eating chips.
Constant snacking can spoil your appetite.
verbintransitive
Eating small amounts of food between meals.
Grammar: Often followed by on: snacking on nuts.
Patterns
- snack on something
The kids are snacking on crackers.
She kept snacking while she worked.
We were snacking on popcorn during the film.
Word forms
| base form | snack |
|---|---|
| third person singular | snacks |
| past tense | snacked |
| -ing form | snacking |
Common combinations
- snacking between meals
- Snacking between meals can dull your appetite.
- mindless snacking
- Mindless snacking in front of the TV adds calories.
- healthy snacking
- Healthy snacking can include nuts and fruit.
- snacking on
- He was snacking on grapes.
- late-night snacking
- Late-night snacking is his weakness.
Synonyms and how they differ
- nibbling
- Nibbling means taking small bites slowly, while snacking focuses on eating between meals.
- grazing
- Grazing means eating small portions over a long time instead of meals, which is a more constant habit than snacking.
- munching
- Munching stresses the chewing, often noisy and enthusiastic, not the timing.
Opposites
Word family
Practice
She stopped ___ in the evenings so she could sleep better.
Choose one answer.
After stopped we use the -ing form when the meaning is quit the habit. To snack would mean she stopped in order to snack.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “snacking”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.