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View synonyms for tat

tat

1

[ tat ]

verb (used with or without object)

, tat·ted, tat·ting.
  1. to do tatting, or make (knotted lace) by tatting.


tat

2

[ tat ]

noun

  1. a pattern, words, or piece of art inked indelibly into the skin by making punctures in it and inserting pigments; tattoo:

    She was normally proud of her tats, but she wore long-sleeved blouses to cover them while interviewing for elementary school teaching positions.

verb (used with or without object)

, tat·ted, tat·ting.
  1. to mark (the skin) with tattoos, or put (tattoos) on the skin (often followed by up ):

    I want to get really tatted up, but I’m planning each piece carefully and taking my time—you only get one canvas for this art.

TAT

3

abbreviation for

, Psychology.

tat

1

/ tæt /

noun

  1. short for tattoo 2
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


tat

2

/ tæt /

verb

  1. to make (something) by tatting
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

tat

3

/ tæt /

noun

“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

tat

4

/ tæt /

noun

  1. tatty articles or a tatty condition
  2. tasteless articles
  3. a tangled mass
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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Word History and Origins

Origin of tat1

First recorded in 1900–05; back formation from tatting

Origin of tat2

First recorded in 1980–85; shortening of tattoo 2( def )
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Word History and Origins

Origin of tat1

C19: of unknown origin

Origin of tat2

C20: back formation from tatty
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Idioms and Phrases

see tit for tat .
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Example Sentences

Given the potential for a cyber tit-for-tat to escalate, Obama has even more incentive to find a diplomatic solution.

Other feminist sites have championed objectifying men in tit-for-tat fashion as empowering women.

A lot of newspaper columns used to be written in a rat-a-tat-tat, fast-paced style—and they tended to be funny.

This series of tit-for-tat bombings has created the most violent and volatile dynamic in Lebanon since the end of the civil war.

Since then, we've been locked in an escalating tit for tat war in which the loser is our increasingly empty federal court system.

I was here a little while ago and nobody answered my knock, though I could hear that typewriter going rat, tat, tat all the time.

Our ears were deafened by the sharp rat-tat-tat of the machine guns, and by our own frantic anti-aircraft fire.

And yet the one is as good as the other: pass for pass, tit for tat, a Roland for an Oliver.

That's why I don't mind tackling cabmen—they sit all day, and all they've got to say is 'rat-tat,' and they've done.

In a few minutes we were replying in volume, and the rat-tat-tats of the machine-guns on either side were continuous.

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Related Words

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.

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