Meaning & use
snoot
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Meanings
nouncountableinformalhumorous
A person's nose, especially a large or prominent one.
Grammar: Informal and often playful: a cold snoot.
Patterns
- wipe your snoot
- poke your snoot into something
The dog pushed his snoot under my arm for a pat.
He wiped his snoot on a tissue.
She had a red snoot after walking in the cold.
nouncountabledisapprovingold-fashioned
A person who acts as if they are better than other people.
Grammar: Disapproving and old-fashioned; the adjective snooty is more common.
Patterns
- a snoot about something
Her neighbor was a real snoot who never said hello.
He was a snoot about wine and refused anything cheap.
The club was full of snoots in expensive suits.
nouncountabletechnical
A cone or nozzle on a piece of equipment, such as a lighting attachment or a spray head.
Grammar: A technical sense used in photography and some tools.
Patterns
- a snoot on a light
The photographer fitted a snoot to the light to narrow the beam.
A metal snoot focused the spray on one spot.
She held the snoot steady over the table.
Word forms
| plural | snoots |
|---|
Common combinations
- cock a snoot
- The boys cocked a snoot at the guard and ran off.
- stick your snoot in
- He stuck his snoot in where it wasn't wanted.
- snoot full
- The old sailor had a snoot full of cheap rum.
- a long snoot
- The anteater has a long snoot.
- turn up your snoot
- She turned up her snoot at the cheap wine.
Synonyms and how they differ
- nose
- Nose is the neutral, everyday word, while snoot is playful or a little mocking.
- snout
- Snout is the long nose of an animal, whereas snoot is lighter and used for people or pets in jokes.
- snob
- Snob names a person who looks down on others, whereas a snoot is a rarer and more old-fashioned word.
- conk
- Conk is British slang for a large nose and sounds even sillier than snoot.
Word family
Commonly confused: snoot or snout? snoot or snooze?
snoot vs snout
A snout is the projecting nose and mouth of an animal such as a pig, and the two words are close in sound.
snoot vs snooze
Snooze means a short sleep, unrelated to noses.
Practice
The puppy pushed its cold ____ into my hand, asking to be petted.
Choose one answer.
A snoot is an informal word for a nose. Snooze and snore relate to sleeping, and a snack is food, so none of them fits.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “snoot”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.