snore

snore — verb

1. to produce loud, rattling breaths from your throat and nose during sleep

1.verbintransitiveB1
Definition

to produce loud, rattling breaths from your throat and nose during sleep

Example

Niran snores so loudly that his wife has to sleep in the guest room.

snore + so loudly + that-clause (degree pattern)

The old dog snored softly by the fireplace all afternoon.

snore + adverb (softly) — manner modifier

Common collocations
  • snore loudly
  • snore softly
  • snore deeply
  • snore through the night
  • snore in your sleep
Synonyms
  • breathe heavily

    a less specific term — can refer to any laboured breathing, not just during sleep

  • wheeze

    narrower and higher-pitched — usually caused by illness or asthma, not ordinary sleep

Antonyms

Grammar Patterns

snore + adverb of manner

snore + prepositional phrase (through/during)

snore + continuous form (be snoring)

Usage Note

Always intransitive — you cannot 'snore someone' or 'snore a sound'. The most common modifiers are adverbs of loudness (loudly, softly) or adverbs describing sleep quality (deeply, peacefully). Frequently used in continuous forms (is snoring, was snoring) to describe an ongoing action.

Common Mistakes

My father does a loud snore every night.
My father snores loudly every night.
The verb form sounds more natural than using 'do' + the noun when describing a person's habit.
He snored a loud sound that woke everyone.
He snored so loudly that he woke everyone.
'Snore' is intransitive; you cannot give it a direct object.

snore — noun

Word family

  • snorer
    nounB1
  • snoring
    nounB1

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/1

Snore, breathe heavily, wheeze, and snort all describe noisy breathing, but they differ greatly in context and cause. Snore specifically refers to the rough, rattling sound made through the mouth and nose during sleep — it is involuntary and happens when the sleeper's airway narrows. Breathe heavily is a much broader term for deep, audible breaths that can occur during exercise, after exertion, or during sleep; it does not imply the distinctive vibrating sound of snoring. Wheeze describes a high-pitched, whistling sound caused by narrowed airways, most often linked to asthma, allergies, or respiratory illness — it is not tied to sleep and signals a medical condition. Snort is a sudden, explosive sound made through the nose, often done intentionally as an expression of contempt or amusement; animals also snort. For example: 'The old man snored through the entire movie.' versus 'The asthmatic child wheezed after running.' versus 'She snorted with laughter at the joke.'

snore ↗breathe heavilywheezesnort

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • snore like a chainsaw
  • snore your way through the night

Prepositions

Etymology

Proto-GermanicOld EnglishEnglish

Snore comes from Old English snora, part of a family of Germanic words (Dutch snurken, German schnarchen) that all imitate the rough, rattling sound made during sleep. This onomatopoeic word has described the same human breathing noise for well over a thousand years.