sneaking 1 of 2

adjective

ˈsnē-kiŋ How to pronounce sneaking (audio)
Definition of sneakingnext
1
as in shady
given to acting in secret and to concealing one's intentions never let one of those sneaking salespeople into your house

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in sneak
undertaken or done so as to escape being observed or known by others harbored a sneaking admiration for his chief business rival

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in lame
arousing or deserving of one's loathing and disgust a sneaking two-timer who has completely lost his wife's trust

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

sneaking

2 of 2

verb

present participle of sneak
1
as in lurking
to move about in a sly or secret manner the little kids sneak around upstairs when they're supposed to be in bed

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2
as in infiltrating
to introduce in a gradual, secret, or clever way sneak the topic into the conversation any way you can

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of sneaking
Adjective
Contributor Yelena Alpert has a sneaking suspicion that these Frette slippers will last a lifetime, attributing her hypothesis to the shoe’s superior quality. — Julia Harrison, Architectural Digest, 10 Mar. 2026 The package includes free breakfast for your plus-one (no more sneaking snacks away from the conference), a signature drink each night (perfect for unwinding after your workday ends), and 1,000 bonus IHG One Rewards points. — Kimberly Wilson, Essence, 23 Apr. 2025
Verb
Kids made good accomplices, tasked with sneaking off on a hunt for the bill. — Literary Hub, 16 Oct. 2026 At 15, Mariana de Miguel was already sneaking into Mexico City’s nightlife with a fake ID, saving money to see the bands that shaped her imagination. — Isabela Raygoza, Billboard, 9 Oct. 2026 Imagine sneaking into a math library and combing through every mathematical text ever written. — Lyndie Chiou, Scientific American, 22 Sep. 2026 The Chiefs placed Royals at tight end on the line, sneaking him across the back of the end zone on a drag route. — Sam McDowell, Kansas City Star, 21 Sep. 2026 Isaiah’s aunt, Charlene, said in court this week that her 8-year-old nephew was mischievous, often sneaking food in the middle of the night. — Rebecca Ellis, Los Angeles Times, 18 Sep. 2026 Auburn’s slate was more difficult, sneaking by Baylor (and former Gators quarterback DJ Lagway) 17-16 in Week 1 before leveling Southern Miss 43-8 last Saturday. — Noah White, Miami Herald, 17 Sep. 2026 Apart from sneaking in a dip in the large heated pool, guests can participate in stand-up paddle boarding, water skiing, boating and tennis. — Beth Landman, HollywoodReporter, 8 Sep. 2026 Rather than trade Ohtani for Caminero, who has blossomed into a two-time All-Star at 23, the team added at the deadline in hopes of sneaking into the wild-card race. — Andy McCullough, New York Times, 4 Sep. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sneaking
  1. shady
  2. clandestine
  3. lame
  4. lurking
  5. infiltrating
  6. sneaky
  7. undercover
  8. dirty
Adjective
  • The fake image was attention-grabbing, shady, and timely — in other words, perfect for social media virality but a potential liability for the parties involved.
    — Mia Sato, The Verge, 15 Oct. 2026
  • If weather permits, be sure to dine at Oliveto Restaurant & Lounge Bar, which sits beneath a shady grove of trees and overlooks the pool and vineyard.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 13 Oct. 2026
Definition of shady
Adjective
  • Bridgers’ tour restricts phones, so the reader’s account had to stand in for the clandestine photo that might otherwise have accompanied the sighting.
    — Jeff Ihaza, Rolling Stone, 6 Oct. 2026
  • The Soviet Union operated an extensive clandestine biological weapons program despite being a party to the Biological Weapons Convention.
    — Krutika Kuppalli, STAT, 6 Oct. 2026
Definition of clandestine
Adjective
  • Blumenthal hopes to see action on KOSA in the lame-duck session.
    — Lisa Hagen, Hartford Courant, 2 Oct. 2026
  • Only to see them, after winning elections, get strong-armed by the party, then offer lame excuses as to why.
    — Colleen Kujawa, Chicago Tribune, 2 Oct. 2026
Definition of lame
Verb
  • The most profitable service targets authors lurking outside the notoriously gatekept realm of traditional publishing.
    — Snigdha Poonam, The Dial, 13 Oct. 2026
  • However, the modern versions that are packed with high explosives and sit lurking under the dirt to blow up unwary vehicles or pedestrians are much nastier affairs.
    — New Atlas, New Atlas, 12 Oct. 2026
Definition of lurking
Verb
  • The show revolved around Crockett and Tubbs, two undercover detectives infiltrating South Florida’s criminal underworld.
    — Matt Grobar, Deadline, 13 Oct. 2026
  • Plus, even if a company isn’t intentionally using your data to train their models, one of their many agents could always go rogue, infiltrating company data and hoovering up individual users’ conversations with their chatbots.
    — Peter Hall, Scientific American, 13 Oct. 2026
Definition of infiltrating
Adjective
  • Leaning into bold patterns is a sneaky way to hide wrinkles in your clothing while still allowing your personality to shine through in your travel wardrobe.
    — Merrell Readman, Travel + Leisure, 7 Oct. 2026
  • This is a sneaky mistake and one of the most common ones business partners make.
    — Leslie John, CNBC, 6 Oct. 2026
Definition of sneaky
Adjective
  • The show revolved around Crockett and Tubbs, two undercover detectives infiltrating South Florida’s criminal underworld.
    — Matt Grobar, Deadline, 13 Oct. 2026
  • At its center is a youngish man named Bob Arctor, an undercover cop who starts using drugs in order to infiltrate a house full of addicts in Southern California.
    — Hilton Als, New Yorker, 12 Oct. 2026
Definition of undercover
Adjective
  • The concentration of quaternary ammonia in the bucket with sanitizer is low (<100 ppm) and the water is visibly dirty.
    — NWA Democrat-Gazette, Arkansas Online, 19 Oct. 2026
  • Many of the strongest initial applications are the dull, dirty, and dangerous tasks that go unfilled, contribute to injuries, and pull people away from higher-value judgment and exception handling.
    — Navin Chaddha, Fortune, 16 Oct. 2026
Definition of dirty

Browse Nearby Words

sneakiness
sneaking
sneaking up
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Cite this Entry

“Sneaking.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sneaking. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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