tickle
Americanverb (used with object)
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tickles,
present (3rd person singular)
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tickled,
past participle, past
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tickling
present participle
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to touch or stroke lightly with the fingers, a feather, etc., so as to excite a tingling or itching sensation in; titillate.
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to poke some sensitive part of the body so as to excite spasmodic laughter.
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to excite agreeably; gratify.
to tickle someone's vanity.
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to excite amusement in.
The clown's antics really tickled the kids.
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to get, move, etc., by or as by tickling.
She tickled him into saying yes.
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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)
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tickles,
present (3rd person singular)
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tickled,
past participle, past
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tickling
present participle
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to be affected with a tingling or itching sensation, as from light touches or strokes.
I tickle all over.
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to produce such a sensation.
noun
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tickles
plural
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an act or instance of tickling.
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a tickling sensation.
idioms
verb
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to touch, stroke, or poke (a person, part of the body, etc) so as to produce pleasure, laughter, or a twitching sensation
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(tr) to excite pleasurably; gratify
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(tr) to delight or entertain (often in the phrase tickle one's fancy )
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(intr) to itch or tingle
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(tr) to catch (a fish, esp a trout) by grasping it with the hands and gently moving the fingers into its gills
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informal to please greatly
he was tickled pink to be elected president
noun
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a sensation of light stroking or itching
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the act of tickling
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(in the Atlantic Provinces) a narrow strait
Usage
What is a basic definition of tickle? Tickle means to touch sensitive body parts in order to cause laughter, to stroke lightly to cause an itching sensation, or to excite. Tickle has several other senses as a verb and a noun. You might tickle your baby brother as part of playing to get him to laugh. Tickling involves touching sensitive body parts, such as the stomach or armpits, to cause involuntary laughter. It is usually done with the fingers, fingernails, or a feather. If someone is especially easy to make laugh by tickling, they are said to be ticklish.
- Real-life examples: Parents often tickle babies or their children to make them laugh or cheer them up. Kids might tickle each other while playing. A person should always have permission before they tickle you.
- Used in a sentence: When my daughter is sad, I can usually cheer her up by tickling her.
- Real-life examples: An uncomfortable sweater may tickle your neck. A pleasant smell can tickle your nose. A bug bite on your leg may cause your leg tickle.
- Used in a sentence: The wind tickled the hairs on the back of my neck.
- Used in a sentence: I felt a slight tickle on my knee after going through the poison ivy bush.
- Used in a sentence: The gorgeous dress tickled her sense of style.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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ticklesimple
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ticklessimple
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have tickledperfect
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has tickledperfect
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am ticklingprogressive
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are ticklingprogressive
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is ticklingprogressive
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have been ticklingperfect progressive
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has been ticklingperfect progressive
Past
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tickledsimple
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had tickledperfect
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was ticklingprogressive
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were ticklingprogressive
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had been ticklingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of tickle
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English tikelen; further origin uncertain; perhaps frequentative of tiken “to touch lightly”; see origin at tick 1 (in obsolete sense “to touch lightly”)
Explanation
When you tickle someone, you touch them in a way that makes them laugh and squirm. It's impossible to tickle yourself—you can only tickle others. You might tickle a baby to make him squeal and giggle, and the sensation he feels is also called a tickle. An itching sensation is also sometimes referred to as a tickle, like a tickle in your throat when you're getting sick. Colloquially, you can tickle someone (or tickle them pink) by delighting them: "It tickles me when you surprise me with cupcakes!" Some experts suspect that this word comes from the Scots kittle, "to tickle."
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:
Whales and sharks breach and hunt in the waters beyond the thick kelp forests that tickle its edges.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026
Red Bull's Max Verstappen says the changes to Formula 1's rules amount to "a tickle" in terms of addressing his and other drivers' concerns about the new style of racing.
From BBC ● Apr. 30, 2026
His evocative depictions of forest scenes are stunning in their own right, hypnotically expressive and made to tickle your id, unearthing deeply rooted primal sensations.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 20, 2026
A whiff of lemongrass and wet soil tickle the nose in Palli Fleischer Lyberth's vertical farm in Sisimiut, the second-largest town in the Danish autonomous territory.
From Barron's ● Feb. 17, 2026
A tickle of cold air sent goose bumps up the small of my back.
From "When I Was Puerto Rican" by Esmeralda Santiago
Not unlike, say, a Whit Stillman movie or an episode of “Frasier,” it tickles the literary parts of the brain.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
Dr Chris van Tulleken says as an infection scientist he sees nature as a positively challenging environment that "tickles your immune system".
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2025
Locals on the street think he might be a ballplayer or a famous rapper — hip-hop’s global reach only tickles Khalid — but they wind up just liking his company.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 13, 2024
Your partner tickles your foot — you might reflexively withdraw the foot without waking up and becoming conscious, right?
From Salon ● Apr. 21, 2024
I see Will standing among the initiates, and something tickles at the back of my mind.
From "Divergent" by Veronica Roth
Still, judging by trends on social media, it seems a lot of people are tickled by the idea that such an outcome is even remotely possible.
From Salon ● Aug. 28, 2026
Instead of having its belly tickled and rolling over, Aronimink bit back on day one of the season's second major.
From BBC ● May 15, 2026
At last year’s staging of “A Streetcar Named Desire” with Paul Mescal, theatergoers were positively tickled as Blanche DuBois spiraled.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 8, 2026
“I’m tickled that I could do something like that for someone.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 1, 2026
“The Major’s got a friend, I’ve got a name, happy campers each and every, tickled pink, over the moon, five hops forward, no hops back, if you get my meaning.”
From "The Very, Very Far North" by Dan Bar-el
A spontaneous laugh triggered by tickling differs from a polite laugh during a meeting, a nervous laugh after making a mistake, or contagious laughter shared among friends.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 2, 2026
It was Steves who first gave me the confidence to get lost, to strike up conversations, to stand still for a while in one place rather than tickling off landmarks on a list.
From Salon ● Feb. 28, 2025
He’s about 1 year old and he’s on the couch with my grandma, and my grandma was making fun of him, maybe tickling him or something, I don’t remember exactly.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 7, 2025
The unusually sedate gathering ended with Fury tickling the champion after the obligatory face-off.
From BBC ● Oct. 23, 2024
At this, Aru heard a laugh that sounded like someone tickling a chandelier.
From "Aru Shah and the End of Time" by Roshani Chokshi
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.
