snag
pronunciation
How to pronounce snag in British English:
UK [snæɡ]
How to pronounce snag in American English:
US [snæɡ]
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- Noun:
- a sharp protuberance
- a dead tree that is still standing, usually in an undisturbed forest
- an opening made forcibly as by pulling apart
- an unforeseen obstacle
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- Verb:
- catch on a snag
- get by acting quickly and smartly
- hew jaggedly
Word Origin
- snag (n.)
- 1570s, "stump of a tree, branch," of Scandinavian origin, compare Old Norse snagi "clothes peg," snaga "a kind of ax," snag-hyrndr "snag-cornered, with sharp points." The ground sense seems to be "a sharp protuberance." The meaning "sharp or jagged projection" is first recorded 1580s; especially "tree or branch in water and partly near the surface, so as to be dangerous to navigation" (1807). The figurative meaning "obstacle, impediment" is from 1829.
- snag (v.)
- "be caught on an impediment," 1807, from snag (n.). Originally in American English, often in reference to steamboats caught on branches and stumps lodged in riverbeds. Of fabric, from 1967. The transitive meaning "to catch, steal, pick up" is U.S. colloquial, attested from 1895. Related: Snagged; snagging.
Example
- 1. But unfortunately there 's a snag .
- 2. A big snag is a shortage of qualified staff .
- 3. The snag is that the bill is unconstitutional .
- 4. The snag is that the resulting imbalances are not sustainable because the point of debt exhaustion is close .
- 5. The latest snag in the process involves whether disarmament inspectors can remove samples from north korea 's yongbyon nuclear complex for outside analysis .