Snicker

//ˈsnɪkɚ// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A stifled or broken laugh.
  2. 2
    A player who snicks the ball. rare
  3. 3
    a disrespectful laugh wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    To emit a snicker, a stifled or broken laugh. intransitive

    "I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker, / And in short, I was afraid."

  2. 2
    laugh quietly wordnet
  3. 3
    To utter through a laugh of this kind. transitive
  4. 4
    To whinny.

Synonyms

All synonyms
be in stitchesbelly laughboffboffolabreak upburst into laughter

Example

More examples

"Snicker all you like; I'm totally serious."

Etymology

Etymology 1

US variant of the British snigger, possibly of onomatopoeic origin, similar to Dutch snikken (“to gasp; sob”). The noun is first recorded 1836, from the verb. Compare also Scottish smicker (“to smile or laugh in a sniggering or leery way, smirk”). More at smicker.

Etymology 2

From snick + -er.

Related phrases

snicker licker

More for "snicker"

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.