tease
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to irritate or provoke with persistent petty distractions, trifling jests, or other annoyances, often in a playful way.
If your little sister is teasing you about your boyfriend and following you around making kissy faces, it’s because she’s jealous and wants your attention.
- Antonyms:
- mollify
-
to bully, harass, or torment.
I was teased about my lisp when I was younger.
New animals are kept isolated when they first arrive at the sanctuary to prevent the established pack from teasing or frightening them.
-
to purposely excite or sexually arouse (someone) without subsequent gratification.
Don’t tease me with vacation ideas you know we can’t afford!
She teased her fiancé with a sexy little dance even though she knew they couldn’t go all the way with a house full of guests.
-
to pull apart or separate the adhering fibers of (wool or the like), as in combing or carding; comb or card, as wool; shred.
-
to ruffle (the hair) by holding it at the ends and combing toward the scalp so as to give body to a hairdo.
-
to raise a nap on (cloth) with teasels; teasel.
-
to introduce (a new product) without revealing details about it, conveying only that the product exists and will be available at a future date.
Both developers teased next generation game consoles at the expo, but neither released specs.
verb (used without object)
noun
-
a person who teases or annoys.
-
a person who purposely excites or sexually arouses another, but then withholds gratification: All I did was set some sexual boundaries, but now he's spreading rumors that I'm a tease.
The weatherman needs to stop being such a tease with these predicted snow days.
All I did was set some sexual boundaries, but now he's spreading rumors that I'm a tease.
-
the act of teasing or the state of being teased.
-
Television. teaser.
verb phrase
verb
-
to annoy (someone) by deliberately offering something with the intention of delaying or withdrawing the offer
-
to arouse sexual desire in (someone) with no intention of satisfying it
-
to vex (someone) maliciously or playfully, esp by ridicule
-
(tr) to separate the fibres of; comb; card
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(tr) to raise the nap of (a fabric) with a teasel
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Also: backcomb. to comb the under layers of (the hair) towards the roots to give more bulk to a hairstyle
-
(tr) to loosen or pull apart (biological tissues, etc) by delicate agitation or prodding with an instrument
noun
-
a person or thing that teases
-
the act of teasing
Related Words
See bother.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of tease
First recorded before 1000; Middle English verb tese(n), teise, Old English tǣsan “to pull, tear, comb”; cognate with Middle Low German tesen, Old High German zeisan “to pluck”; the noun is derivative of the verb
Explanation
To tease is to pick on someone or to give false hope. You can tease your little sister by saying "nanny nanny boo boo" or by holding a cookie just out of her reach. Tease, a modern spelling of the Old English taesan “pluck, pull apart" is now associated with the act of harassing. You can still use tease as a verb, though, to describe the act of backcombing your hair to give it volume. But more commonly, tease refers to messing with someone. There’s an old proverb, “Patience when teased is often transformed into rage,” which means if you tease someone a lot, you might get your booty kicked!
Vocabulary lists containing tease
myPerspectives 9.1
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"My Superpowers"
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"Ode on a Grecian Urn" by John Keats
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Later on, they developed a bright and melodic take on dancehall with the duo Chaka Demus & Pliers, scoring hits with songs such as Tease Me and Murder She Wrote in the early 1990s.
From BBC • Jan. 26, 2026
News of Garcia’s exit dropped amid this week’s bombshell Season 4 finale, which revealed she helped run a shady gossip Instagram page known as Reality Von Tease.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 24, 2024
Ula Somwaru, the owner of Tease Hair Salon in Silver Spring, said she has been taking steps to reopen her shop with temperature checks and staggered appointments.
From Washington Post • May 13, 2020
They were rugby-tackled as the winning owner gathered her whippet Tease into her arms like a baby.
From The Guardian • Mar. 23, 2019
Tease not thy vision with vain search for ends.
From The Poems of Sidney Lanier by Lanier, Sidney
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
