Definition

Noun: 1. A person who acts in a stealthy, furtive, or underhanded manner; an informer or decoy: This meaning is now rare and primarily historical. It refers to someone who moves or acts secretly, often for deceptive purposes. 2. A type of casual, comfortable shoe with a flexible rubber sole and a canvas, leather, or synthetic upper; an athletic shoe: This is the dominant modern meaning. Sneakers are designed for sports or casual wear and are characterized by their quiet, non-marking soles.

Usage and Examples

• Noun (Person):
  • The gang suspected a sneaker in their midst was leaking information to the authorities. (This usage is archaic.)
• Noun (Shoe):
  • She laced up her favorite sneakers before going for a run.
  • For casual Fridays, many people wear sneakers to the office.

Advanced Usage

• "Sneaker culture": Refers to the community and commercial activity surrounding the collection, trading, and appreciation of athletic shoes, often limited editions.
  • He's deeply involved in sneaker culture and owns dozens of rare pairs.
• "Sneakerhead": (A compound word listed here as it is a direct derivative) A person who collects, trades, or admires sneakers as a hobby.
  • The convention was filled with sneakerheads looking for the latest releases.

Variants and Related Words

• Sneak (verb): To move or act in a stealthy, secretive way.
  • He tried to sneak into the movie theater without a ticket.
• Sneaky (adjective): Behaving in a secret and sometimes dishonest or unpleasant way.
  • That was a sneaky trick you played on me.
• Sneakers (plural noun): The standard form when referring to the shoes.
  • I need to buy new sneakers.

Synonyms

• For the shoe: Athletic shoe, trainer (common in British English), tennis shoe, gym shoe, runner.
• For the person (archaic): Informant, informer, decoy, stool pigeon.

Related Phrases and Idioms

• "On sneakers": (Informal) Wearing sneakers.
  • The entire team was on sneakers for the charity walk.
• "Sneaker net": (Informal, computing) A humorous term for transferring electronic data by physically carrying a storage device (like a USB drive) from one computer to another, as opposed to using a network.
  • The network was down, so we had to use sneaker net to share the large files.

Noun

1. someone acting as an informer or decoy for the police
2. a canvas shoe with a pliable rubber sole