Snare Meaning
/snɛ(ə)ɹ/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA trap (especially one made from a loop of wire, string, or leather).
nounA mental or psychological trap.
Sentence Examples
A fox is not caught twice in the same snare.
A fox was caught in the snare.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The hunter set a clever ____ to trap the rabbit in the woods yesterday.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The hunter carefully set a ____ in the thick bushes, hoping to catch a rabbit for his dinner.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English snare, from Old English sneare (“snare, noose”), from Proto-West Germanic *snarhā, from Proto-Germanic *snarhǭ (“a sling; loop; noose”). Cognate with Old Norse snara. Also related to German Schnur and Dutch snaar, snoer.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"He […] watched Beavis’s long-toothed mouth open and clap to like a rabbit snare."
— 1943, Graham Greene, The Ministry of Fear, London: Heinemann, published 1960, Book Three, Chapter One, pp. 196-197:
"He felt a snare tightening around his throat; he gasped and threw a leg out of the bed, where it jerked for a second or two, thumping the steel frame, and died."
— 2013, Richard Flanagan, chapter 18, in The Narrow Road to the Deep North, New York: Knopf, published 2014, page 332:
"If thou retire, the Dauphin, well appointed,
Stands with the snares of war to tangle thee:"
— 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]:
"[…] if thou serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto thee."
— 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Exodus 23:33:
"[…] and I had now liv’d two Years under these Uneasinesses, which indeed made my Life much less comfortable than it was before; as may well be imagin’d by any who know what it is to live in the constant Snare of the Fear of Man […]"
— 1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC, page 193:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
The hunter set a clever ____ to trap the rabbit in the woods yesterday.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The hunter carefully set a ____ in the thick bushes, hoping to catch a rabbit for his dinner.