snub
Snub (verb) means to deliberately ignore or treat someone coldly, as an insult. Example: “She snubbed her old friend at the party by walking straight past her.”
How to use snub
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishTo coldly ignore or reject someone (or the insult itself); also describes a short, upturned nose.
Word forms
- Plural
- snubs
- Third person singular
- snubs
- Past tense
- snubbed
- Comparative
- more snub
- Superlative
- most snub
Fill the gap
Can you complete this real example?
Not being invited to the wedding felt like a real _____.
Etymology
From Middle English snubben, snibben (noun), either indigenous or from Old Norse snubba (“to curse, chide, snub, scold, reprove, rebuff, infringe”), from Proto-Germanic *snūbaną, *snūpaną. Related to English snip, snap, snape, sneap, to Old Norse sneypa (among more), to Proto-Germanic *snaupijaną. The original sense is visible in Nordic cognates, to an original sense of “pinching off” (→ “to repress, infringe”), really “snipping off” (Old Norse sneypa, Norwegian Nynorsk snøypa, Swedish snöpa, snoppa, snipa, snippa (“to pinch off, to squeeze off, to castrate”)), with nouns denoting “pinched end → point” (cf. Swedish snip (“snout, spout”), snibb (“lobe”)). Maybe distantly related to snoop (“be nosy”), to “pinched point” referencing snouts, i.e. the “pinched of point of the animal” (cf. Swedish snopp (“penis”)), then also maybe sniff. Compare Proto-Germanic *snabulaz; also English neb, nib (“beak, point”). Other cognate forms: Danish snubbe, snibbe, snibe, snippe, sneppe, snøbba; Swedish snebba, snåipa, snypa, snyppa.
Related words
Rhymes for snub
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