heckle
Americanverb
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to interrupt (a public speaker, performer, etc) by comments, questions, or taunts
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Also: hackle. hatchel. (tr) to comb (hemp or flax)
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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hecklesimple
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hecklessimple
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have heckledperfect
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has heckledperfect
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am hecklingprogressive
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are hecklingprogressive
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is hecklingprogressive
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have been hecklingperfect progressive
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has been hecklingperfect progressive
Past
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heckledsimple
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had heckledperfect
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was hecklingprogressive
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were hecklingprogressive
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had been hecklingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of heckle
First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English hekelen, variant of hechelen “to comb flax”; akin to hackle 1, hatchel
Explanation
To heckle is to challenge or harass someone. At a sporting event, fans sometimes heckle the opposing team, but it’s not very respectable behavior. One of the many challenges of being a stand-up comedian is dealing with people harassing you from the audience. Those people are heckling. While heckling in a comedy club is not all that unusual, it’s still rude. If you choose to heckle someone, whether they are a comic or anyone else, be prepared to be heckled back — or worse.
Vocabulary lists containing heckle
One of Us Is Lying
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Yada Yada Yada
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Monday's Not Coming
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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.
See Examples For:
Some blame the rising price of tickets, saying theatergoers feel entitled to misbehave in the same way sports fans feel the price of admission buys them the right to heckle players.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 8, 2026
Passersby who witnessed this altercation began to heckle the police, demanding they take the handcuffs off Smith.
From Salon ● May 13, 2025
Arizona and Arizona State fans once used the term to heckle him, but the taunts had the opposite of their intended effect.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 20, 2025
Responding to a heckle, Powell said: "No, I wasn't there actually."
From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2024
“But what if I want to heckle Nick?”
From "Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda" by Becky Albertalli
As has become customary, the hearing was interrupted by protesters bursting into heckles; Rubio quipped that at least he gets bilingual demonstrators.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 15, 2025
"If someone heckles me, I can heckle them back... always politely though."
From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2023
Of course, hecklers could submit their heckles via email or interview but not heckle directly at our duly elected president.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 10, 2023
The reason, he said, is that he would expect an order from a group that cheers for the visitor and heckles the home team would be rejected.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 2, 2023
A couthie wife an' cantie she has been; I maun gie o'er sic rants, an' that's be seen. never heckles me but for my guid; I sall gang sober hame—I will indeed.
From Legends of the North; The Guidman O' Inglismill and The Fairy Bride by Patrick Buchan
In other footage verified by AFP, a reporter with Zee TV was heckled while broadcasting live from a protest in Mumbai.
From Barron's ● Aug. 6, 2026
Angry protesters jeered and heckled Sir Keir when he visited Golders Green to meet Jewish volunteer organisations and first responders on Thursday.
From BBC ● Apr. 30, 2026
While the Met Police chief spoke, he was heckled by bystanders, who shouted "shame on you" and "you've failed", and called for his resignation.
From BBC ● Apr. 29, 2026
On Tuesday its students disrupted, heckled and tried to shout down a speech by Homeland Security general counsel James Percival.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 24, 2026
I tried to defend the play and I was heckled down.
From "Black Boy" by Richard Wright
In an age of seemingly nonstop spam, that act of rebellion can feel deeply satisfying, like heckling a telemarketer who interrupted dinner.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 2026
“These people are crazy, I’m telling you. We’re lucky we have a country with people like this,” he said, over audible heckling about the Epstein files.
From Salon ● Feb. 24, 2026
One federal agent saw the patrollers, turned up his music, and began heckling the group as he rode in.
From Slate ● Oct. 27, 2025
He even managed to get a rise out of mild-mannered Presiding Officer Alison Johnstone, who recently kicked him out of the chamber for heckling.
From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2025
On June 26, Alice Paul and Lucy Burns were carrying a banner that read Democracy Should Begin at Home when a group of boys started heckling them.
From "Votes for Women!" by Winifred Conkling
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.
