snowflake
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: snōʹflāk
ipa: /ˈsnəʊ.fleɪk/
ipa: /ˈsnoʊ.fleɪk/
Forms: form: snowflakes
form: snow flake
form: snow-flake
form: ❄
Etymology: From snow + flake. Compare Saterland Frisian Sneeflokke (“snowflake”), Dutch sneeuwvlok, Luxembourgish Schnéiflack, German Schneeflocke.
Senses: glosses: A crystal of snow, having approximate hexagonal symmetry.
glosses: Any of several bulbous European plants, of the genus Leucojum, having white flowers.
glosses: The snow bunting, Plectrophenax nivalis.
examples: text: When I come home, one space monkey is reading to the assembled space monkeys who sit covering the whole first floor. “You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You are the same decaying organic matter as everyone else, and we are all part of the same compost pile.”
ref: 1996, Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club, published 2005, →ISBN, page 134:
glosses: Someone who believes they are particularly unique and special.
examples: text: When have words ever hurt anyone? The triggered snowflakes at this liberal university are trying to literally murder our freedom of speech.
ref: 2017, Dylan Kyle, quoted in "Campus Voices", The Mugdown (Texas A&M University), August 2017, page 15
text: Fox News pundits claim to be upset because companies are choosing to embrace the "holidays" rather than "Christmas" to avoid offending any liberal snowflakes.
ref: 2017, Ben Brill, "What's wrong with saying 'Happy holidays' this December", High Tide (Redondo Union High School), 20 October 2017, page 7
text: Now, at least in theory, snowflakes on both coasts in withdrawal from Rachel Maddow’s nightly Kremlinology lesson can purchase a whole book to inspire paroxysms of rage. “White” — even the title is a trigger — is a veritable thirst trap for the easily microaggressed.
ref: 2019 April 17, Bari Weiss, “Bret Easton Ellis Takes On ‘Generation Wuss’”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
text: Within a few minutes of stepping foot on the school grounds, a triggered snowflake called the police. Multiple officers accosted Kevin McMahon, a YAF staffer, and threatened to arrest him for exercising his free speech rights since he was outside the designated "free speech area."
ref: 2020 January 31, Erin McLaughlin, “Free speech cowed at GMU”, in The Collegian, Grove City College, page 8:
synonyms: special snowflake
glosses: Someone hypersensitive to insult or offense, especially a young person with politically correct sensibilities.
examples: text: Robertson and colleagues reported 10 patients in four families with lesions similar to those of stage I and stage II snowflake generation.
ref: 2007, Kenneth W. Wright, Peter H. Spiegel, Lisa Thompson, Handbook of Pediatric Retinal Disease, →ISBN, page 195:
text: The authors have recently analyzed a PMMA lens explanted because of snowflake degeneration in the dry and hydrated states.
ref: 2010, Roger F. Steinert, Cataract Surgery, →ISBN, page 525:
text: These defects may be more pronounced in the superior visual field, perhaps corresponding to the inferior predilection for the snowflake lesions.
ref: 2011, Elias I. Traboulsi, Genetic Diseases of the Eye, →ISBN, page 520:
topics: medicine
ophthalmology
sciences
glosses: A type of lesion that appears as scattered white-brown spots under high magnification light microscopy.
examples: text: MS is referred to as a “snowflake” disease because symptoms vary from person to person.
ref: 2016 July 14, Sara Schabe, Krysten Massa, “North Fork native begins stem cell treatment to battle MS”, in Suffolk Times:
glosses: Something that is unique in every presentation.
examples: text: Alright, snowflake, where's the dope?
ref: 2009, Michael Jai White, Byron Minns, Scott Sanders, Black Dynamite (motion picture), spoken by Black Dynamite (Michael Jai White):
glosses: A Caucasian person.
glosses: Someone (usually white) who was opposed to the abolition of slavery (Missouri, 1860s)
Derived terms: word: autumn snowflake
word: broflake
word: flowsnake
word: Koch snowflake
word: paper snowflake
word: quiet as a snowflake
word: snowflake baby
word: snowflake child
word: snowflake curve
word: snowflake eel
word: snowflake generation
word: snowflakelike
taxonomic: Echidna nebulosa
word: snowflake moray
word: snowflakeness
word: snowflake obsidian
word: snowflake queen
word: snowflakery
word: snowflake schema
word: snowflake wheel
word: snowflaky
word: special snowflake
word: special snowflake syndrome
taxonomic: Leucojum vernum
word: spring snowflake
taxonomic: Leucojum aestivum
word: summer snowflake
Related terms: ❄
snowfleck