-tic

¹ American  

1. a suffix, equivalent in meaning to -ic, occurring in adjectives of Greek origin (analytic ), used especially in the formation of adjectives from nouns with stems in -sis: hematotic; neurotic.

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tic ² American  

[tik] / tɪk /

noun

1. Pathology.

   1. a sudden, spasmodic, painless, involuntary muscular contraction, as of the face.

   2. tic douloureux.

2. a persistent or recurrent behavioral trait; personal quirk.

   her distinctive verbal tics.

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tic British  

/ tɪk /

noun

1. spasmodic twitching of a particular group of muscles

2. See tic douloureux

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Etymology

Origin of -tic¹

< Greek -tikos, extracted from adjectives derived with -ikos -ic from agent nouns ending in -tēs; hieratic

Origin of tic¹

First recorded in 1790–1800; from French (of expressive origin)

Example Sentences

His quirky but helpful tic: spelling out the words on the floor with his foot before answering.

From The Wall Street Journal

A Tic Tac or jellybean, for example, does not have enough water and too few air bubbles to allow it to expand.

From BBC

The circle worried him, and his left eyelid jumped, a tic that had recently developed.

From The Wall Street Journal

In addition, the Fed team concluded that TIC data is not capturing just how much Cayman-domiciled hedge funds are dominating positions in the so-called basis trade.

From MarketWatch

TIC data is the main source of U.S. data on cross-border securities and banking.

From MarketWatch

Related Words

• twitch