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Literary notes about snickered (AI summary)

"Snickered" is often deployed in literature to convey a sense of suppressed, mischievous laughter that can underscore irony, derision, or secret amusement. Authors use the term to indicate moments when a character’s outward composure belies an internal reaction of mockery or cautious humor—as when an audience collectively snickered at a situation that demanded attention ([1]) or when boatmen indulged in covert laughter that hinted at their private opinion of an unfolding crisis ([2]). At times, the word also signals a transition in mood, where a snicker might momentarily break the tension in a serious discussion or act as a subversive commentary on the events, as seen where characters’ snickering leads to further provocative or playful developments ([3], [4]). This varied use enriches narrative tone, allowing subtle layers of social critique and character insight to emerge with a single, compact verbal cue.
  1. Tompkins glared; the audience craned their necks to get sight of Duncan and snickered aloud.
    — from In the Line by Albertus T. (Albertus True) Dudley
  2. When the boatmen snickered at this secretly, the commissioner, who feared a storm, had come between with a joke.
    — from On the Seaboard: A Novel of the Baltic Islands by August Strindberg
  3. The others snickered, and I had half a mind to go back and make him tell me what he meant.
    — from The Radio Boys' First Wireless; Or, Winning the Ferberton Prize by Allen Chapman
  4. "'"He-he-he-he!" snickered the old woman: "why despair at once and lose heart?
    — from The Serapion Brethren, Vol. I. by E. T. A. (Ernst Theodor Amadeus) Hoffmann

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