snare

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C1 — Advanced

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun something (often something deceptively attractive) that catches you unawares
  2. noun a small drum with two heads and a snare stretched across the lower head
  3. noun a surgical instrument consisting of wire hoop that can be drawn tight around the base of polyps or small tumors to sever them; used especially in body cavities

Etymology

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.

In classic literature

Synonyms

trap

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