taunting

American

[tawn-ting, tahn-] / ˈtɔn tɪŋ, ˈtɑn- /

adjective

reproaching or challenging someone in a sarcastic, insulting, or scornful way.

The Times obtained copies of his emails, which our reviewer found unquestionably harassing, with a taunting quality to them.

noun

the act or an instance of reproaching or challenging someone in this way.

The taunting included comments such as "Go home!" and "What are you doing in our country?"

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

Inflected Forms

Nouns

tauntings

plural

Etymology

Origin of taunting

First recorded in 1540–50; taunt ¹ ( def. ) + -ing ² ( def. ) for the adjective; taunt ¹ ( def. ) + -ing ¹ ( def. ) for the noun

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:

taunting tauntings

Sean Duffy is even taunting Pete Buttigieg about it, in a bout of dreaded intra–transportation secretary violence.

From Slate ● May 5, 2026

The Georgia winger is as effective as he is mesmerising, taunting opposition with a languid but unstoppable dribbling style, socks at half mast on his calves, defenders clawing at the scorched turf left behind him.

From BBC ● Apr. 28, 2026

From my perspective as a political philosopher, these and other similar claims indicate he is speaking falsely as a way of demeaning or taunting his detractors.

From Salon ● Apr. 13, 2026

Crew chief Marc Davis said in a pool report that both players were “assessed technical fouls for their continual taunting of one another.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 22, 2026

On its back, Damasen yelled insults and jabbed at the god of the pit, taunting Tartarus farther away from the Doors.

From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan

His tauntings washed over Kingshaw, they sounded babyish, he didn't care at all what Hooper said.

From "I'm the King of the Castle" by Susan Hill

"Such tauntings are but a childish barter of words."

From The President A novel by Alfred Henry Lewis

At many bends of the Sweetwater they paused and made sorties; but the savages fell back, later to close in, sometimes under cover so near that their tauntings could be heard.

From The Covered Wagon by Emerson Hough

Where, then, will be your tauntings and your vauntings, your boastings and your braggings?

From The History of the Life of the Late Mr Jonathan Wild the Great by Henry Fielding

Gerda rose from the foam where she had been playing serenely impervious to the tauntings of Kay.

From Dangerous Ages by Dame Rose Macaulay

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023