Meaning & use
snow globe
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Meanings
nouncountable
a clear ball filled with liquid and tiny white flakes that swirl like snow around a small scene when shaken.
Grammar: A normal countable noun: a snow globe, two snow globes.
Patterns
- shake a snow globe
She shook the snow globe and watched the flakes settle on the tiny village.
The shop sells a snow globe of every major city.
He kept a snow globe from his trip on the shelf.
nouncountablefigurative
a small, enclosed, perfect-looking place or situation, often protected from the real world.
Grammar: A figurative use: living in a snow globe.
Patterns
- live in a snow globe
The campus felt like a snow globe, cut off from the town.
She grew up in a snow globe of money and comfort.
Their little village is a snow globe in winter.
Word forms
| plural | snow globes |
|---|
Common combinations
- shake a snow globe
- The child shook the snow globe again.
- a musical snow globe
- She received a musical snow globe as a gift.
- collect snow globes
- My aunt collects snow globes from every country.
- glass snow globe
- The glass snow globe cracked in the post.
- a snow globe souvenir
- I bought a snow globe souvenir at the airport.
Synonyms and how they differ
- snow dome
- Snow dome is a British variant that means exactly the same object.
- water globe
- Water globe refers to the same kind of object but without implying snow.
- paperweight
- A paperweight is a heavy glass object for holding down papers, though some old ones resemble snow globes.
Word family
Commonly confused: snow globe or snowball?
snow globe vs snowball
A snowball is a ball of packed snow, not a glass ornament.
Practice
She turned the ___ upside down and watched white flakes fall around a tiny house.
Choose one answer.
A snow globe has fake snow that swirls inside liquid. The other objects do not behave that way.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “snow globe”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.