sniper

English

Etymology

From snipe +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsnaɪ.pɚ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪpə(ɹ)

Noun

sniper (plural snipers)

1. A person using long-range small arms for precise attacks from a concealed position.
2. (by extension) A sniper rifle.
3. Any attacker using a non-contact weapon against a specific target from a concealed position.
4. One who shoots from a concealed position.
   • 1874, Richard John Batt, The Maryland Continentals, 1780-1781‎^[1]:

     The British, having cleared the open field, now faced the problem of advancing through the trees into the sniper fire of several hundred Virginia militia.

     unlikely "precise" or even "long-range"

5. One who criticizes; a person who frequently snipes at others.
   • c. 1934, The Living Age‎^[2], volume 351, page 30:

     No winnable seat has been found for Mr. H. L. Nathan, a powerful recruit from the Liberal ranks, and poor Mr. Wedgwood Benn, an invaluable sniper for a party in Opposition, has been out of Parliament now since 1931.

   • 1968, Carl Ruhen, The Key Club, Sydney: Scripts, page 35:

     They always sniped at each other in public. German snipers were a wishy-washy lot compared with Lester and his wife.

6. A hunter of snipe (the bird).
7. (ice hockey slang) A player who specializes in scoring goals.

   Alexander Ovechkin is often regarded as the greatest sniper of his generation.

8. A person or automated process set up by a person who or which attempts to win an online auction by placing a bid only seconds before the auction ends, leaving no time for other bidders to respond
   • 2004, David D. Busch, The eBay Myth-Bu$ter: Turn 199 Misconceptions Into Money!, Wiley, →ISBN, page 16:

     The real reason most snipers bid late in the auction is that they feel it helps them obtain bargains at the expense of novices who don't understand how proxy bidding works and who place bids for less than the amount they are really willing to pay.

   • 2007, Entrepreneur Press, Start Your Own Business on eBay: Your Step-By-Step Guide to Success, Entrepreneur Press, →ISBN, page 64:

     Sniping is the process of placing bids in the closing minutes or seconds of an auction. Snipers do this to avoid bidding wars that escalate the bids to more than they want to pay. Bidders can protect themselves against snipers by bidding the absolute maximum amount they are willing to pay with eBay's proxy bidding system.

   • 2008, Michael Miller, Absolute Beginner's Guide to EBay, Que Publishing, →ISBN, page 68:

     The successful sniper makes one bid only—and makes it count. Sniping happens on eBay because the end time of each auction is rigidly enforced. If you know that an auction ends at 12:01:30, you can time your snipe to hit at 12:01:29, leaving no time for any other bidders to trump your bid.

   • 2012, Jack White, Mystique of Marketing Art on eBay, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 11:

     The smart sniper slips in and places the final winning bid when it's too late for the other bidder to respond.

Derived terms

• diaper sniper
• sniper rifle
• stream sniper

Translations

a person using long-range small arms for precise attacks from a concealed position

• Albanian: please add this translation if you can
• Arabic: قَنَّاص (ar) m (qannāṣ)

  Hijazi Arabic: قَنَّاص m (gannāṣ)

• Armenian: սնայպեր (hy) (snayper), դիպուկահար (hy) (dipukahar)
• Bashkir: мәргән (mərgən)
• Belarusian: сна́йпер m (snájpjer)
• Bulgarian: снайперист m (snajperist)
• Catalan: franctirador m
• Chechen: иччархо (iččarxo)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 狙擊手 / 狙击手 (zh) (jūjīshǒu)

• Crimean Tatar: please add this translation if you can
• Czech: odstřelovač (cs) m
• Danish: skarpskytte c (army, ordinary soldier) finskytte c (army, specialist soldier)
• Dutch: scherpschutter (nl) m, sluipschutter (nl) m
• Esperanto: gvatpafisto, (male or female) snajpero, (female) snajperino
• Estonian: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: tarkka-ampuja (fi)
• French: franc-tireur (fr) m
• Galician: francotirador m
• Georgian: სნაიპერი (snaiṗeri)
• German: Scharfschütze (de) m
• Greek: ελεύθερος σκοπευτής (el) (eléftheros skopeftís)

  Ancient: ἑκηβόλος m (hekēbólos)

• Hebrew: צָלָף (he) (tsaláf)
• Hindi: निशानची (hi) (niśāncī), कमीनदार (kamīndār), स्नाइपर (snāipar)
• Hungarian: mesterlövész (hu)
• Icelandic: leyniskytta (is) f
• Indonesian: penembak runduk, senapan runduk
• Italian: tiratore scelto m, cecchino (it) m, franco tiratore m
• Japanese: 狙撃手 (ja) (sogekishu), スナイパー (sunaipā)
• Korean: 저격병 (ko) (jeogyeokbyeong), 스나이퍼 (seunaipeo), 저격수 (jeogyeoksu)
• Latvian: please add this translation if you can
• Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can
• Macedonian: снајпери́ст m (snajperíst)
• Malay: penembak hendap
• Maltese: ċekkin m
• Maori: kaipuhi tīpako, kaipupuhi huna
• Mari:

  Eastern Mari: вик лӱйышӧ (vik lüjyšö)

• Persian: تک‌تیرانداز (tak-tirândâz)
• Polish: snajper (pl) m, strzelec wyborowy m
• Portuguese: franco-atirador m, atirador furtivo (pt) m, atirador (pt) m, sniper (pt) m or f
• Romanian: lunetist (ro) m
• Russian: сна́йпер (ru) m (snájper)
• Scottish Gaelic: snaidhpear m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Roman: snajpèrist (sh) m

• Slovak: ostreľovač m
• Spanish: francotirador (es) m
• Swedish: prickskytt (sv) c, krypskytt (sv) c
• Tatar: мәргән (tt) (märgän)
• Turkish: keskin nişancı (tr)
• Ukrainian: сна́йпер m (snájper)
• Urdu: please add this translation if you can
• Vietnamese: xạ thủ bắn tỉa (vi)

any attacker using a non-contact weapon against a specific target from a concealed position

• Armenian: սնայպեր (hy) (snayper), դիպուկահար (hy) (dipukahar)
• Danish: snigskytte c
• Finnish: sala-ampuja (fi)
• French: franc-tireur (fr) m
• German: Heckenschütze (de) m
• Hindi: निशानची (hi) (niśāncī), कमीनदार (kamīndār), स्नाइपर (snāipar)
• Hungarian: mesterlövész (hu), orvlövész (hu)
• Icelandic: leyniskytta (is) f
• Italian: tiratore scelto m, cecchino (it) m
• Macedonian: стре́лец m (strélec), снајпери́ст m (snajperíst)
• Portuguese: franco-atirador m, sniper (pt) m or f
• Russian: сна́йпер (ru) m (snájper)
• Scottish Gaelic: snaidhpear m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Roman: snajpèrist (sh) m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• French: ^{(please verify)} tireur isolé (fr)
• Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} penembak tersembunyi
• Norman: ^{(please verify)} titheux muchi m (Jersey)
• Serbo-Croatian: ^{(please verify)} сна̀јпер m, ^{(please verify)} snàjper (sh) m
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} francotirador (es) m
• Swedish: ^{(please verify)} krypskytt (sv)
• Vietnamese: ^{(please verify)} bắn tỉa

See also

• marksman
• sharpshooter
• sniper's hide

Anagrams

• Piners, respin, Perins, persin, ripens, serpin, piners, Spiner, Prines, repins

French

Alternative forms

• snipeur

Etymology

Borrowed from English sniper.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /snaj.pœʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

sniper m (plural snipers, feminine sniper or snipeuse)

1. sniper (person, weapon)

Norwegian Nynorsk

Noun

sniper f

1. indefinite plural of snipe

Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English sniper.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /izˈnaj.peʁ/ [izˈnaɪ̯.peh]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /izˈnaj.peʁ/ [izˈnaɪ̯.peh]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /izˈnaj.peɾ/ [izˈnaɪ̯.peɾ]
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /iʒˈnaj.peʁ/ [iʒˈnaɪ̯.peχ]
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /izˈnaj.peɻ/ [izˈnaɪ̯.peɻ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈsnaj.pɐɾ/

Noun

sniper m or f by sense (plural snipers)

1. (military) sniper (person using long-range small arms for precise attacks from a concealed position)

   Synonyms: atirador especial, atirador de elite, franco-atirador

Noun

sniper f (plural snipers)

1. (firearms) sniper rifle

   Synonyms: fuzil de precisão, espingarda de precisão