to arrest or capture.
to catch or seize, especially suddenly.
to snatch or steal.
to arrest
to catch (someone) in wrongdoing
to seize suddenly; snatch
1675–85; earlier nap; perhaps < Scandinavian; compare Danish nappe, Norwegian, Swedish nappa to snatch
When you nab someone, you catch the person in the act of doing something wrong. A police officer, for example, might say that she loves to nab shoplifters. You nab when you apprehend a bad guy, or when you suddenly grab something: "Hey, you can't just nab a slice of pizza off my plate!" It's most common to use nab when a criminal is caught, as when the FBI nabs a suspected terrorist or an officer nabs a would-be graffiti artist. Nab probably came from an earlier word, nap, "to seize or catch," which is now obsolete except in the word kidnap.
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The show’s nontraditional approach—a mix of clever analysis and laudatory commentary—has allowed it to nab high-profile interviews with executives, some of whom rarely speak to legacy media outlets.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 3, 2026
In L.A., the company said, its technology had been deployed to nab porch pirates and car thieves, not to mention played a role in solving a “high-profile crime involving stolen weapons from a politician’s home.”
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 1, 2026
The undercover officers donned masks depicting Captain America, Batman and Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th, among others, to nab a pair in the act, Brazil's Civil Police said.
From BBC • Feb. 14, 2026
Some corporate acquisitions dubbed “acquihires” are aimed primarily at talent, such as when Meta Platforms paid $14 billion for a stake in Scale AI to nab founder Alexandr Wang.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 10, 2026
And though it would take me four more years, eventually I’d nab the solo.
From "If I Stay" by Gayle Forman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
