toss

American  

[taws, tos] / tɔs, tɒs /

verb (used with object)

• tosses,
  present (3rd person singular)
• tossed,
  past participle,  past
• tost,
  past participle,  past
• tossing
  present participle

1. to throw, pitch, or fling, especially to throw lightly or carelessly.

   to toss a piece of paper into the wastebasket.

2. to throw or send from one to another, as in play.

   to toss a ball.

3. to throw or pitch with irregular or careless motions; fling or jerk about.

   The ship was tossed by waves.

4. to agitate, disturb, or disquiet.

5. to throw, raise, or jerk upward suddenly.

   She tossed her head disdainfully.

6. to speak or express in a sudden offhand manner; interject.

   He tossed jokes into their serious discussion.

7. to throw (a coin) into the air in order to decide something by the side turned up when it falls (sometimes followed byup ).

8. to toss a coin with (someone).

9. to stir or mix (a salad) lightly until the ingredients are coated with the dressing.

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verb (used without object)

• tosses,
  present (3rd person singular)
• tossed,
  past participle,  past
• tost,
  past participle,  past
• tossing
  present participle

1. to pitch, rock, sway, or move irregularly, as a ship on a rough sea or a flag or plumes in the breeze.

2. to fling or jerk oneself or move restlessly about, especially on a bed or couch.

   to toss in one's sleep.

3. to throw something.

4. to throw a coin into the air in order to decide something by the way it falls (sometimes followed byup ).

5. to go with a fling of the body.

   to toss out of a room in a fit of anger.

noun

• tosses
  plural

1. an act or instance of tossing.

2. a pitching about or up and down.

3. a throw or pitch.

4. tossup.

5. the distance to which something is or may be thrown.

6. a sudden fling or jerk of the body, especially a quick upward or backward movement of the head.

verb phrase

1. toss up to vomit.

2. toss off

   1. to accomplish quickly or easily.

   2. to consume rapidly, especially to drink something up in one swallow.

      He tossed off a cocktail before dinner.

   3. British Slang. to masturbate.

idioms

1. toss one's cookies, cookie.

2. toss one's hat in the ring. hat.

toss British  

/ tɒs /

verb

1. (tr) to throw lightly or with a flourish, esp with the palm of the hand upwards

2. to fling or be flung about, esp constantly or regularly in an agitated or violent way

   a ship tosses in a storm

3. to discuss or put forward for discussion in an informal way

4. (tr) (of an animal such as a horse) to throw (its rider)

5. (tr) (of an animal) to butt with the head or the horns and throw into the air

   the bull tossed the matador

6. (tr) to shake, agitate, or disturb

7. to toss up a coin with (someone) in order to decide or allot something

   I'll toss you for it

   let's toss for it

8. (intr) to move away angrily or impatiently

   she tossed out of the room

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noun

1. an abrupt movement

2. a rolling or pitching motion

3. the act or an instance of tossing

4. the act of tossing up a coin See toss up

5. a fall from a horse or other animal

6. to wrangle or dispute at length

7. slang to be concerned or interested (esp in the phrase not give a toss )

toss More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing toss

• throw (toss) one's hat in the ring
• throw away (toss out)

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Synonym Usage

See throw.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• tosser
  noun
• untossed
  adjective
• tossingly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• tosses
  plural

Participles

• tossing
  present
• tossed
  past
• tost
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• toss
  simple
• tosses
  simple
• have tossed
  perfect
• have tost
  perfect
• has tossed
  perfect
• has tost
  perfect
• am tossing
  progressive
• are tossing
  progressive
• is tossing
  progressive
• have been tossing
  perfect progressive
• has been tossing
  perfect progressive

Past

• tossed
  simple
• tost
  simple
• had tossed
  perfect
• had tost
  perfect
• was tossing
  progressive
• were tossing
  progressive
• had been tossing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will toss
  simple
• will have tossed
  perfect
• will have tost
  perfect
• will be tossing
  progressive
• will have been tossing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of toss

First recorded in 1595–1605; origin uncertain

Explanation

When you lightly throw something, you toss it. You might toss your lifejacket and backpack into a canoe before climbing in with the paddles. You can toss a baseball to your friend in the backyard, or toss your trash in a wastebasket when you're finished with lunch. You can also toss a coin or toss a salad. Another way to toss is to move back and forth — or thrash — like an insomniac in bed or a boat on a stormy ocean.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

toss tosses tossed tost tossing

The courts would eventually toss Mr. Delrahim’s bogus case, but not before the delay helped torpedo AT&T’s business strategy.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026

Pour the mixture over the oyster crackers and toss until evenly coated.

From Salon ● Jul. 14, 2026

During the tournament, a new tradition has also emerged: Fans gather and toss a person into the air, as is traditionally done with a groom at a wedding.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 5, 2026

"I didn't mean to bowl a full toss to him. It just happened," Mahmood told BBC Sport.

From BBC ● Jun. 30, 2026

I find a pebble nearby and toss it.

From "The Manifestor Prophecy" by Angie Thomas

Bonnie loves Forky, but Forky sees himself as trash, not a toy, and tosses himself into the garbage at every opportunity.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2026

As if releasing a pro-stealing film in a very anti-theft corporate culture weren’t ballsy enough, radical filmmaker Boots Riley grabs everything from the kitchen sink and tosses it into the blender for “I Love Boosters.”

From Salon ● Jun. 10, 2026

Displaying as always her couture hauteur, Miranda, who doesn’t even remember Andy from her long-ago gig, tosses the former assistant in a terrible office and tells her she will inevitably fail.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 29, 2026

After close inspection, the guide tosses it in with the rest of the coastal plants you’ll be eating for lunch near the cliffs of County Kerry, Ireland.

From Salon ● Mar. 14, 2026

He tosses it to me like always, but it bumps the one I already have and spills on my tray.

From "Isaiah Dunn Is My Hero" by Kelly J. Baptist

The brand emphasizes that its pieces are meant to last even with heavy use and not just be tossed.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026

Sony Pictures Entertainment, Paramount Skydance, private equity firms RedBird and TPG, and Reddit co-creator Alexis Ohanian have also reportedly tossed their hats in the ring, setting up early sales meetings with Letterboxd.

From Salon ● Jul. 15, 2026

Think of this as savory frico brittle: buttery Ritz crackers, broken into uneven pebbles and hunks, tossed with Parmesan, herbs and a little fat, then baked until the cheese melts into crisp, golden clusters.

From Salon ● Jul. 14, 2026

"The bison hooked him with his left horn on his hip and tossed him in the air," Mike Macleod, who recorded the incident, told the Cowboy State Daily, a local paper.

From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026

A car is tossed like a tub toy by a wave that inundated the North side of the Fukushima Daiichi plant.

From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland

The grave Bavarian, midst his half year’s frost, Delights to keep thy ruby fins awake; And as in traffic’s maze his fancy’s tost, Light skims the icy surface of the lake.

From Nicotiana Or The Smoker's and Snuff-Taker's Companion by Meller, Henry James

Father Benson, in his "War-Songs of the Prince of Peace," thus happily translates the fourth verse of Psalm 150—"Praise Him with timbrels tost in timely dance."

From India and the Indians by Elwin, Edward Fenton

When Mary was in her fits, if the witch but so much as laid her hand upon her she was tost and shaken fearfully.

From Witch Stories by Linton, E. Lynn (Elizabeth Lynn)

In comes the brick-dust man, with grime o'erspread, And beats the collier and the barber—red: Black, red, and white in various clouds are tost, And in the dust they raise the combatants are lost.

From Familiar Quotations A Collection of Passages, Phrases, and Proverbs Traced to Their Sources in Ancient and Modern Literature by Bartlett, John

But "my state is so tost and weather-beaten, that it hath nowe no anchor-holde left to cleave unto."

From The English Novel in the Time of Shakespeare by Jusserand, J. J.

“The idea that tossing the desires of Pearl’s family into the ashcan is ‘just what journalists do’ is only a cover for indiscriminate National Enquirer logic,” he said in a June 2002 column.

From Salon ● Aug. 6, 2026

Soccer’s velvety, polarizing honcho had the planet begrudgingly tossing confetti at his custom Stan Smiths.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026

That includes her niece who has cleared the entire fridge of any produce, tossing it all into the rubbish, including what Michelle saw as a perfectly good watermelon.

From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026

Emergency workers stood on the charred roof, still smelling of burning, sawing off damaged sections and tossing the debris into a pile.

From Barron's ● Jun. 15, 2026

He kept coming back again and again, and every time Marlene would run at him across the garden, trumpeting, tossing her ears, flapping them, but that only infuriated the dog even more.

From "An Elephant in the Garden" by Michael Morpurgo