Meaning & use
snub-nosed person
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Meanings
phrasecountable
A person whose nose is short and slightly turned up at the tip.
Grammar: Countable phrase; use an or the before it, and make it plural as snub-nosed people.
Patterns
- a snub-nosed person
- snub-nosed people
The portrait shows a snub-nosed person with a wide, cheerful smile.
She is a snub-nosed person, so sunglasses often slide down her face.
In the story, a snub-nosed person is described as looking younger than her age.
adjectivebefore a noun
Having a short nose that turns up at the tip.
Grammar: Used before a noun, as in a snub-nosed child; the hyphen joins the two parts into one describing word.
Patterns
- a snub-nosed face
- a snub-nosed child
He has a snub-nosed face that makes him look boyish.
The kitten was small and snub-nosed, with round, bright eyes.
Word forms
| plural | snub-nosed people |
|---|
Common combinations
- a snub-nosed person
- The artist sketched a snub-nosed person in profile.
- snub-nosed face
- Her snub-nosed face gave her a friendly, open look.
- small and snub-nosed
- The puppy was small and snub-nosed, easy to carry in one arm.
- look snub-nosed
- From this angle the statue looks snub-nosed.
Synonyms and how they differ
- pug-nosed
- Very similar in meaning, but pug-nosed is more informal and often suggests a nose that is flatter and more noticeably turned up.
- button-nosed
- A gentler, more affectionate way to say the same thing, often used of cute children or animals.
Opposites
Word family
- snub nose noun
- The short, turned-up nose itself, rather than the person who has one.
- snub-nosed adjective
- The adjective form used directly before a noun.
Commonly confused: snub-nosed person or snub?
snub-nosed person vs snub
As a verb, snub means to deliberately ignore someone; the nose sense comes from a different, older meaning, so a snub-nosed person has not been ignored.
Practice
Which sentence uses the phrase correctly?
Choose one answer.
The fixed form is snub-nosed, with -ed on nose, so option 1 is right. Option 3 wrongly uses -ing, and option 4 wrongly uses snubbed, which would suggest the nose was ignored or rejected.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “snub-nosed person”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.