teaser
Americannoun
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a person or thing that teases.
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an advertisement that lures customers or clients by offering a bonus, gift, or the like.
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Also called tease,. Also called teaser ad. Television. a short, impressionistic image, promotional video, or audio spot that reveals very little about the product or company being advertised and is presented to generate interest in advance of the primary advertising campaign.
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Also called teaser trailer,. Also called trailer tease. Movies. a short, edited promotional video to generate interest in an upcoming film and announce its release date: a teaser is a forerunner to full-length trailers for the film that feature highlights and are shown closer to the film’s distribution date.
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Also called bumper tease. Television. bumper.
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Informal. tease.
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Theater. a drapery or flat piece across the top of the proscenium arch that masks the flies and that, together with the tormentors, forms a frame for the stage opening.
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Printing, Journalism. kicker.
noun
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a person who teases
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a preliminary advertisement in a campaign that attracts attention by making people curious to know what product is being advertised
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a difficult question
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vet science a vasectomized male animal, such as an ox, used to detect oestrus in females
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of teaser
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English teser “machine for teasing wool”; see tease, -er 1
Explanation
The nearly impossible puzzle your math teacher gives for extra credit can be called a teaser — a tricky problem to solve. A mystifying problem is one kind of teaser — another is a person who loves to tease. Your nose-grabbing, practical joking uncle is a teaser, especially if he enjoys gently mocking or making fun of you. Yet another teaser is the kind that opens a TV show — sort of a sneak preview of the story to come. This is closest to the original meaning of teaser, from 1934, "an introductory advertisement or sample."
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.
See Examples For:
“No humans were harmed during the making of this program” could be the teaser to “World’s Biggest Sharks,” though leading with a low mortality rate wouldn’t be ideal for the “Sharkfest” brand.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026
A behind-the-scenes teaser trailer boasts of expending 25 tons of propane to create a realistic approximation of dragon fire and setting a new world record for setting stunt performers on fire in a single take.
From Salon ● Jun. 24, 2026
Ironic, considering the first film’s teaser trailer was simply a sequence from the movie, condensed and re-edited, but told prospective viewers infinitely more about the film without having to say anything narrative-specific.
From Salon ● Apr. 20, 2026
In the film’s short teaser, Cruise — donning an Ethan Hunt-esque hair and makeup transformation — moves balletically while carrying a shovel.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 10, 2026
Crappy mortgages worth three-quarters of a trillion dollars were resetting from their teaser rates to new, higher rates.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
Like videogames, mini-dramas try to hook viewers with free episodes or teasers before asking them to pay or watch ads to unlock the remaining content.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 26, 2026
That includes egg casserole variations and a twist on a traditional bacon and egg sandwich that includes sriracha aioli, she shared as teasers.
From Salon ● Jun. 7, 2025
From the glimpses in its teasers, the First Family appears to live in a retrofuturistic world that is distinctly its own.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 14, 2025
Now, companies are posting ad campaign teasers, begging consumers to pay attention to their products long before the big game.
From Slate ● Feb. 9, 2025
So no one saw the teasers for the nightly news or watched the news that evening.
From "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng
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.
