nerd-snipe

verb

To present someone with a very interesting problem to solve, distracting them from whatever they were doing previously.

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Meanings

verbnerd-snipe (third-person singular simple present nerd-snipes, present participle nerd-sniping, simple past and past participle nerd-sniped)

present singular third person nerd-snipes · participle present nerd-sniping · participle past nerd-sniped · past nerd-sniped · alternative nerd snipe · alternative nerdsnipe

  1. slangTo present someone with a very interesting problem to solve, distracting them from whatever they were doing previously.

    […]I am looking forward to revising this chapter when better tooling becomes available (or I get nerd-sniped into writing it).

    2022, Luca Palmieri, Zero to Production In Rust: An introduction to backend development in Rust, →ISBN, page 330

Origin

From nerd + snipe. Coined by American cartoonist, author and engineer Randall Munroe in 2007 in his webcomic xkcd.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

nerd-snipe. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nerd-snipe

MLA

“nerd-snipe.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nerd-snipe. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “nerd-snipe,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nerd-snipe.

Source: nerd-snipe on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.