snitch — to secretly tell someone in authority about someone else's wrongdoing
Part of speech: VERB
Definition: to secretly tell someone in authority about someone else's wrongdoing
Pronunciation (IPA): /snɪtʃ/
Example Sentences
- My little brother always snitches when I eat cookies before dinner.
- The criminal was caught because someone snitched to the police.
- Stop being such a snitch and mind your own business!
snitch
VERB[/snɪtʃ/]
to secretly tell someone in authority about someone else's wrongdoing
The classmate became a snitch and told the teacher who cheated on the test.
The witch flips the switch to expose the snitch!
Got the picture? Now let's practice.
🎤Pronunciation
🌳Etymology
Origin
The word originated in 17th-century thieves' cant (criminal slang), initially meaning 'nose' before evolving to denote the act of extracting or revealing information. The semantic shift reflects the idea of 'nosing out' secrets, eventually coming to mean an informer or one who betrays others.
Breakdown
The term derives from thieves' cant where 'snitch' literally referred to the nose, leveraging the metaphor of 'poking one's nose' into affairs to develop its modern meaning of informing on someone or betraying a confidence.
🎵Rhyme
🔗Collocations
📝Examples
“My little brother always snitches when I eat cookies before dinner.”
“The criminal was caught because someone snitched to the police.”
“Stop being such a snitch and mind your own business!”
“In prison movies, snitches usually don't have a good ending.”
📚Related Words
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