To snooze means to sleep lightly for a short time, especially during the day. When you snooze on the couch after school, you're not deeply asleep like at bedtime; you're dozing in a relaxed, drowsy state. A cat might snooze in a sunny window, and your dad might snooze in his chair on Sunday afternoon.

The word also describes what happens when you hit that button on your alarm clock in the morning. The snooze button gives you a few extra minutes of sleep before the alarm rings again.

People also use snooze as a noun to mean something boring. If your friend says the documentary was a real snooze, they mean it was so dull it nearly put them to sleep. Similarly, if someone says “you snooze, you lose,” they're warning that if you're not paying attention or acting quickly enough, you'll miss out on an opportunity.