snapshot

See also: snap-shot and snap shot

English

Etymology

snap +‎ shot

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈsnæpʃɒt/
Audio (US) (file)

Noun

snapshot (plural snapshots)

A photograph, especially one taken quickly or in a sudden moment of opportunity.
He carried a snapshot of his daughter.
A glimpse of something; a portrayal of something at a moment in time.
The article offered a snapshot of life in that region.
- 2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, page 70:
  I hope you've enjoyed reading this series. As usual, it's just a snapshot because there's so much to say but only so many words can make it into print.
(computing) A file or set of files captured at a particular time, often capable of being reloaded to restore the earlier state.
This game is so hard that I find myself taking a snapshot every few seconds in case I get killed.
(soccer) A quick, unplanned or unexpected shot.
- 2011 March 2, Chris Whyatt, “Arsenal 5 - 0 Leyton Orient”, in BBC‎:
  Yet Revell misjudged his promising position in the area to put his point-blank snapshot wide from only six yards out.
(firearms) A quick offhand shot, made without deliberately taking aim over the sights.
- 1892, Stanley Waterloo, A Man and a Woman
  How quick the eye and hand to catch him [the ruffed grouse] when he rises from the underbrush and is out of sight in the wood before the untrained sportsman stops him with what is little more than a snapshot, so instantaneously must all be done!

Derived terms

snapshotter
Snapchat

Translations

A photograph

Bulgarian: моментална снимка f (momentalna snimka)
Catalan: instantània (ca) f
Dutch: kiek (nl) m or n
Estonian: foto, kaader, stoppkaader, ülesvõte
Faroese: skundmynd f
Finnish: valokuva (fi)
French: instantané (fr) m
German: Schnappschuss (de) m
Greek: στιγμιότυπο (el) n (stigmiótypo)
Hungarian: pillanatfelvétel (hu)
Russian: сни́мок (ru) m (snímok), кадр (ru) m (kadr), стоп-ка́др (ru) m (stop-kádr)
Spanish: instantánea f
Swedish: ögonblicksbild c
Turkish: enstantane (tr)

A glimpse of something

Catalan: captura (ca) f
Dutch: momentopname (nl) m or n
Estonian: hetkepilt, ülesvõte
Faroese: løtumynd f
Finnish: tilannekatsaus
German: Momentaufnahme (de) f
Hungarian: pillanatfelvétel (hu)
Polish: migawka (pl) f
Portuguese: vislumbre (pt) m
Swedish: ögonblicksbild c

(Computing) Files captured at a particular time that are capable of being reloaded to restore the earlier state

Greek: στιγμιότυπο (el) n (stigmiótypo)
Maori: hopuāhua
Persian: یادیک‎ (fa)

Verb

snapshot (third-person singular simple present snapshots, present participle snapshotting, simple past and past participle snapshotted)

(transitive) To take a photograph of.
- 1904, David T Hanbury, Sport and Travel in the Northland of Canada:
  As he did not appear disposed to move off, I took my camera and approached within about thirty yards, when I snapshotted him.
(transitive, computing) To capture the state of, in a snapshot.
- 2007, David E. Irwin, An Operating System Architecture for Networked Server Infrastructure (page 30)
  Filer appliances also offer programmatic snapshotting and cloning at the block-level or file system-level.

Translations

to take a snapshot of

Catalan: capturar (ca)
Esperanto: kapti (eo)
Faroese: taka eina skundmynd av
German: einen Schnappschuss machen von
Russian: де́лать (момента́льный) сни́мок (délatʹ (momentálʹnyj) snímok), бы́стро (отобража́ть) состоя́ние (býstro (otobražátʹ) sostojánije)

References

“snapshot”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.