tar
1 Americannoun
-
any of various dark-colored viscid products obtained by the destructive distillation of certain organic substances, as coal or wood.
-
coal-tar pitch.
-
smoke solids or components.
cigarette tar.
verb (used with object)
-
tars,
present (3rd person singular)
-
tarred,
past participle, past
-
tarring
present participle
adjective
-
of or characteristic of tar.
-
covered or smeared with tar; tarred.
idioms
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beat / knock / whale the tar out of, to beat mercilessly.
The thief had knocked the tar out of the old man and left him for dead.
-
tar and feather,
-
to coat (a person) with tar and feathers as a punishment or humiliation.
-
to punish severely.
She should be tarred and feathered for what she has done.
-
-
tarred with the same brush, possessing the same shortcomings or guilty of the same misdeeds.
The whole family is tarred with the same brush.
noun
noun
noun
-
any of various dark viscid substances obtained by the destructive distillation of organic matter such as coal, wood, or peat
-
another name for coal tar
verb
-
to coat with tar
-
to punish by smearing tar and feathers over (someone)
-
regarded as having the same faults
-
A dark, oily, viscous material, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons, produced by the destructive distillation of organic substances such as wood, coal, or peat.
-
See coal tar
-
A solid, sticky substance that remains when tobacco is burned. It accumulates in the lungs of smokers and is considered carcinogenic.
Synonym Usage
See sailor.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
tarsimple
-
tarssimple
-
have tarredperfect
-
has tarredperfect
-
am tarringprogressive
-
are tarringprogressive
-
is tarringprogressive
-
have been tarringperfect progressive
-
has been tarringperfect progressive
Past
-
tarredsimple
-
had tarredperfect
-
was tarringprogressive
-
were tarringprogressive
-
had been tarringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of tar1
First recorded before 900; Middle English noun ter, terr(e), Old English teru, teoru, taru; cognate with Dutch, German teer, Old Norse tjara; akin to tree; verb derivative of the noun
Origin of tar2
First recorded in 1670–80; perhaps short for tarpaulin
Explanation
Tar is a very thick liquid that's used to cover road surfaces. You can't walk on fresh, hot tar—you have to wait until it's completely dry. Besides coating streets and parking lots, tar is also used to waterproof things like roofing shingles and wooden boats. Because it has disinfecting properties, you can sometimes find tar in soap, medicinal shampoos, and even as flavoring in candy and alcohol. When you tar something, you spread tar on it. Long ago, to tar and feather someone was to apply painfully hot, burning tar and feathers to their skin, as a brutal kind of vigilante punishment.
Vocabulary lists containing tar
Black and Gray
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3-letter words, List 2
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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:
It also included writings and a large painting of a forest made with tar, oil and feathers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026
“We’re buying tar from Venezuela, and we’re refining it in Houston,” he complained.
From Salon ● Sep. 1, 2026
One sample, however, contained a different formulation made from beeswax and tar.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 21, 2026
On paper, the one thing he has going for him is a nickname so retro that it’s practically covered in pine tar and has transformed an otherwise ordinary prospect into an unlikely cult hero.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026
The entire ship creaks in painful complaint, and the perspiring boards of the hull stretch and contract, straining against the miserable black tar that holds them together.
From "Challenger Deep" by Neal Shusterman
One wonders what those early salt- and sun-battered tars would have thought of the drink’s most recent incarnation, the milkshake IPA.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 8, 2023
In a 2,600-year-old embalming workshop, scientists have discovered the ingredients for making a mummy: the tars, fats, tree resins and oils ancient Egyptians used to preserve bodies and prepare them for the afterlife.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 1, 2023
The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938 included new regulations around color, specifically those derived from coal tars.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 26, 2018
"If they are going to certify destruction, even just one company alone, it tars every producer with the same brush."
From Reuters ● Nov. 7, 2016
"Pull, gents! Be good lads! It's me own fault, not leadin' you around this bog. Me eyesight ain't what it was, is it, old tars?"
From "The Whipping Boy" by Sid Fleischman
Although they premiered more than 20 years apart, the television shows “Bluey” and “South Park” have been tarred with the “millennial” brush.
From Salon ● Aug. 30, 2026
She feels that responsible carriers often get "tarred with the same brush" as unauthorised companies, even though she is paying out for licences, insurances and tip fees.
From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2026
He had been born into the lowest rung of minor aristocracy—his uncle was a baronet—and his family wealth came from Australia: two things that tarred him with outsider status among the class-conscious British elite.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2025
But she said critics had tarred her for something far more nefarious.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 17, 2024
While she was showing me her different makeup applicators, the woman, who had stiff platinum hair and eyelashes tarred in mascara, told me I must be earning a truckload in commissions.
From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls
Abbott, who represents the Stoney Stanton and Croft division, said he was "not being prejudiced" or "tarring anyone" and was stating a concern "from his residents".
From BBC ● Jan. 9, 2026
It attempted to justify his deportation by tarring him as a gang member, an accusation that was based on comically flimsy evidence and which the government never tried to escalate to proving in court.
From Slate ● Aug. 27, 2025
American law enforcement was more interested in tarring King with whatever they could dig up than in protecting him.
From New York Times ● May 8, 2023
His opponents tried to slow him down by tarring him as an out-of-touch tycoon.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 8, 2022
He has a summer job, with the Works Department, filling in potholes in the roads, tarring over the cracks made by frost heave; he does have a faint tarry smell about him.
From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood
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.
