tickle

[ tik-uhl ]
See synonyms for: tickletickledtickling on Thesaurus.com

verb (used with object),tick·led, tick·ling.
  1. to touch or stroke lightly with the fingers, a feather, etc., so as to excite a tingling or itching sensation in; titillate.

  2. to poke some sensitive part of the body so as to excite spasmodic laughter.

  1. to excite agreeably; gratify: to tickle someone's vanity.

  2. to excite amusement in: The clown's antics really tickled the kids.

  3. to get, move, etc., by or as by tickling: She tickled him into saying yes.

  4. to stroke the underbelly of (a fish, especially a trout) until it goes into a trancelike state, making it possible to scoop it out of the water: the ability to tickle a fish, often contested as more mythical than actual, has been written of and embellished on since ancient times: He tickled that fish until it stopped moving, and the next thing I knew, we were having trout for dinner!

verb (used without object),tick·led, tick·ling.
  1. to be affected with a tingling or itching sensation, as from light touches or strokes: I tickle all over.

  2. to produce such a sensation.

noun
  1. an act or instance of tickling.

  2. a tickling sensation.

Idioms about tickle

  1. tickled pink, Informal. greatly pleased: She was tickled pink that he had remembered her birthday.

Origin of tickle

1
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English tikelen; further origin uncertain; perhaps frequentative of tiken “to touch lightly”; see origin at tick1 (in obsolete sense “to touch lightly”)

Other words for tickle

Other words from tickle

  • un·tick·led, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use tickle in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for tickle

tickle

/ (ˈtɪkəl) /


verb
  1. to touch, stroke, or poke (a person, part of the body, etc) so as to produce pleasure, laughter, or a twitching sensation

  2. (tr) to excite pleasurably; gratify

  1. (tr) to delight or entertain (often in the phrase tickle one's fancy)

  2. (intr) to itch or tingle

  3. (tr) to catch (a fish, esp a trout) by grasping it with the hands and gently moving the fingers into its gills

  4. tickle pink or tickle to death informal to please greatly: he was tickled pink to be elected president

noun
  1. a sensation of light stroking or itching

  2. the act of tickling

  1. Canadian (in the Atlantic Provinces) a narrow strait

Origin of tickle

1
C14: related to Old English tinclian, Old High German kizziton, Old Norse kitla, Latin titillāre to titillate

Derived forms of tickle

  • tickly, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012