tingle
Americanverb (used without object)
-
tingles,
present (3rd person singular)
-
tingled,
past participle, past
-
tingling
present participle
-
to have a sensation of slight prickles, stings, or tremors, as from cold, a sharp blow, excitement, etc..
I tingle all over.
-
to cause such a sensation.
The scratch tingles.
verb
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
tinglesimple
-
tinglessimple
-
have tingledperfect
-
has tingledperfect
-
am tinglingprogressive
-
are tinglingprogressive
-
is tinglingprogressive
-
have been tinglingperfect progressive
-
has been tinglingperfect progressive
Past
-
tingledsimple
-
had tingledperfect
-
was tinglingprogressive
-
were tinglingprogressive
-
had been tinglingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of tingle
1350–1400; Middle English tinglen (v.), variant of tinkle
Explanation
When something tingles, it prickles or stings a tiny bit. Walking through a haunted house might make your skin tingle with fear. A cool breeze makes your skin tingle, and a pep rally might leave you tingling with excitement. Tingle can also call be used as a noun: a tingle is similar to a shiver or a shudder, a light sensation that may have an emotional or physical cause. An earlier meaning of tingle was "a ringing sensation or sound."
Vocabulary lists containing tingle
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:
Similarly, his cultural allusions no longer provoke even a tingle, let alone a shock of recognition.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026
How her skin would tingle with the first signs of irritation after just a few hours outside.
From BBC ● May 7, 2026
That fall morning in 2022, the furniture refinisher, who was 36 at the time, felt his limbs begin to tingle as he took the clamps off a table.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 16, 2025
Scott Speedman is in it for the tingle.
From Salon ● Oct. 26, 2024
The cooling tingle is grounding, helps me concentrate on the outside of my head.
From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen
Watching him gradually turn tender sends tingles through your heartstrings.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2025
Q: My right foot burns and tingles so badly that it’s hard to sleep.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 23, 2022
Kobie Boykins, a mechanical engineer who was instrumental in building the rovers, recalls getting tingles at Opportunity’s first steps.
From New York Times ● Nov. 3, 2022
The Stanley Cup playoffs — gosh, even the phrase brings tingles to the spine — begin next week.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 26, 2022
And tingles down my spine made me certain it wasn’t a good point.
From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson
He had a severe peripheral neuropathy that left his feet mostly numb, though occasionally they burned and tingled as if they were asleep.
From New York Times ● Nov. 30, 2022
“As kids we used to hold these 9-volt batteries to our tongues and it tingled, that’s roughly how you have to imagine this,” Lierz says.
From Science Magazine ● Jun. 8, 2022
"At that point, the ‘spidey senses’ tingled a little bit."
From Fox News ● Oct. 22, 2021
It kept going and going, long after one of the prettiest 63s anybody ever saw had concluded, until it tingled both the back end of the golf course and the back end of the neck.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 20, 2019
The chilly air tingled her nose and she noticed that the cotton grasses by the pond were seeding out into white puffs.
From "Julie of the Wolves" by Jean Craighead George
Munro said headaches were a symptom of migraine attacks, but so too are "visual disturbances, nausea and vomiting, sometimes numbness and tingling, sometimes abdominal pain, sometimes dizziness".
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
The tingling in my face has largely disappeared, but my walking has become increasingly difficult over the years.
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026
The vocals throughout have that patented, tingling Jayhawks sound; the instrumentals are as sharp as fans will recall.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026
Low B12 can cause anaemia, fatigue, nerve problems, numbness or tingling, and sometimes memory problems or confusion.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 6, 2026
Like right now, my face is still tingling where her lips touched it, and I haven’t taken my eyes off her even though she’s across the room.
From "Odd One Out" by Nic Stone
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
