snow globe

noun

: a sphere usually made of glass containing a miniature scene and flakes suspended in a clear liquid that give the appearance of snow falling onto the scene when the sphere is shaken

At the gift shop around the corner, you can buy giant panda oven mitts, hand towels, snow globes, decorative plates and change purses, among many other items.

—David Rowell

Examples of snow globe in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Since first hearing the story of the Titanic, Ozzy, as he’s known, has amassed a raft of factoids, a Titanic snow globe from the Titanic Belfast museum and many ship models at his home in Hastings, England. —Janet Manley, New York Times, 5 Apr. 2025

The Commonwealth of Virginia has a Snoop Dogg snow globe for sale on the government surplus auction site. —Karri Peifer, Axios, 12 Feb. 2025

Kimberley is surrounded by jagged peaks, and the car-free downtown area feels like a snow globe — with a quaint look and quiet atmosphere. —Evie Carrick, Travel + Leisure, 25 Nov. 2024

Today’s protests, however, are carried out continuously in the public eye—a social-media vantage that makes the campus less a world apart than a snow globe for all interested parties. —Nathan Heller, The New Yorker, 3 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1926, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for snow globe

• bathrobe
• earlobe
• microbe
• niobe
• wardrobe
• jobe
• lobe
• probe
• robe
• strobe
• microprobe