What does "snake" mean?
Any of the suborder Serpentes of legless reptile with long, thin bodies and fork-shaped tongues.
Snake
/sneɪk/ name, noun, verb, slang
name, noun, verb, slang ·Very common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: Any of the suborder Serpentes of legless reptile with long, thin bodies and fork-shaped tongues.
- Grammar: snake is listed as name, noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: serpent, ophidian, plumber's snake, adder.
- Useful contrasts: address, confront, direct.
- Usage evidence: Seen from the sky, the river looked like a huge snake.
How to use "snake"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "snake" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "snake" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "snake" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "snake" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "snake" is acting as name, noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "serpent" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "snake", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Any of the suborder Serpentes of legless reptile with long, thin bodies and fork-shaped tongues.
"The man writhed like a trampled snake, and a red foam bubbled from his lips."
- 2 limbless scaly elongate reptile; some are venomous wordnet
- 3 A person who acts deceitfully for personal or social gain; a treacherous person. figuratively
"Near-synonyms: rat; see also Thesaurus:betrayer"
- 4 a long flexible steel coil for dislodging stoppages in curved pipes wordnet
- 5 A tool for unclogging plumbing.
Show 10 more definitions
- 6 something long, thin, and flexible that resembles a snake wordnet
- 7 A tool to aid cable pulling.
- 8 a deceitful or treacherous person wordnet
- 9 A flavoured jube (confectionary) in the shape of a snake. Australia, UK
- 10 Trouser snake; the penis. slang
- 11 A series of Bézier curves.
- 12 The seventh Lenormand card.
- 13 An informer; a rat. Multicultural-London-English
"Gem’s a snake for Kamale, man."
- 14 Ellipsis of snake in the tunnel. abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis, historical
"The snake failed to provide an anchor for currency stability and, through it, disinflation."
- 15 Ellipsis of black snake (“firework that creates a trail of ash”). abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis
Verb
- 1 To follow or move in a winding route. intransitive
"The path snaked through the forest."
- 2 move along a winding path wordnet
- 3 To steal slyly. Australia, slang, transitive
"He snaked my DVD!"
- 4 move smoothly and sinuously, like a snake wordnet
- 5 To clean using a plumbing snake. transitive
Show 4 more definitions
- 6 form a snake-like pattern wordnet
- 7 To drag or draw, as a snake from a hole; often with out. US, informal
"November 27 1835, N.B. St. John, letter to George Thompson his wife and children shall not be forced to flee from the hearth of a friend, lest they should be snaked out by men in civic authority"
- 8 To wind round spirally, as a large rope with a smaller, or with cord, the small rope lying in the spaces between the strands of the large one; to worm.
- 9 To inform; to rat; often with out. Multicultural-London-English
"He says he didn't snake and I believe him."
Proper Noun
- 1 The sixth of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. countable, uncountable
- 2 An early computer game, later popular on mobile phones, in which the player attempts to manoeuvre a perpetually growing snake so as to collect food items and avoid colliding with walls or the snake's tail. countable, uncountable
- 3 A surname. countable, uncountable
- 4 A placename:; A river in the northwestern United States, tributary to the Columbia. countable, uncountable
- 5 A placename:; Ellipsis of Snake Island. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, ellipsis, uncountable
Example
"Seen from the sky, the river looked like a huge snake."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "snake"?
Common synonyms include: serpent, ophidian, plumber's snake, adder, amaru, anaconda.
How do you use "snake" in a sentence?
Seen from the sky, the river looked like a huge snake.
How do you pronounce "snake"?
Pronounced /sneɪk/.
Etymology
From Middle English snake, from Old English snaca (“snake, serpent, reptile”), from Proto-West Germanic *snakō (“slider, snake”), from *snakan (“to creep, slide”), related to Old High German snahhan (“to sneak, slide”). Compare also Proto-Germanic *snēkô (“creeper, crawler”). Cognate with German Low German Snake, Snaak (“snake”), dialectal German Schnake (“adder”), Danish snog (“grass snake”), Swedish snok (“grass snake”), Norwegian Nynorsk snåk (“viper, adder”), Faroese snákur (“grass snake”), Icelandic snákur (“snake”).