To snag something means to catch or grab it quickly, often in a lucky or opportunistic way. When you snag the last cookie before your brother gets to it, you've grabbed it at just the right moment. A baseball player might snag a fly ball with an impressive diving catch.

The word suggests both speed and a bit of luck or skill. You might snag a great seat at the movie theater, snag a bargain at a yard sale, or snag your teacher's attention to ask a quick question before class ends.

Snag also means an unexpected problem or obstacle that slows you down. Your sweater might catch on a snag on a fence, pulling a thread loose. A project at school might hit a snag when you discover the library doesn't have the book you need. These snags aren't disasters, they're just annoying complications that require a moment to figure out.

As a noun, a snag can be a sharp or rough spot that catches on things, like a broken branch or a jagged piece of metal. If fabric gets caught on something rough, we say it snagged.