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

Rather than try to flee, the larger speedboat began circling the inflatable, taunting the four Civil Guard officers aboard.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026

The Wrigley faithful turned up the heat, taunting “Skuuuuubaaaaalll.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026

Never mind their dozens of targeted social media posts and years of taunting.

From Salon ● Jun. 25, 2026

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

From Slate ● May 5, 2026

She nodded, her eyes wide and taunting, like, How tough are you really, Jules?

From "Tradition" by Brendan Kiely

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

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

Go with your tauntings, go; Neer think to hurt me so; I'll scoff at your disdain.

From Poems Chiefly from Manuscript by John Clare

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

From The President A novel by Alfred Henry Lewis

The married state, is much like this, O'rewhelm'd with many crosses, Yet must be born, see how it is, With tauntings, toils, and losses.

From The Ten Pleasures of Marriage and the Second Part, The Confession of the New Married Couple by A. Marsh

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