tease

[ teez ]

/ tiz /

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See synonyms for: tease / teased / teasing on Thesaurus.com

verb (used with object), teased, teas·ing.

to irritate or provoke with persistent petty distractions, trifling jests, or other annoyances, often in a playful way: If your little sister is teasing you about your boyfriend and following you around making kissy faces, it’s because she’s jealous and wants your attention.

to bully, harass, or torment: I was teased about my lisp when I was younger.New animals are kept isolated when they first arrive at the sanctuary to prevent the established pack from teasing or frightening them.

to purposely excite or sexually arouse (someone) without subsequent gratification: Don’t tease me with vacation ideas you know we can’t afford!She teased her fiancé with a sexy little dance even though she knew they couldn’t go all the way with a house full of guests.

to pull apart or separate the adhering fibers of (wool or the like), as in combing or carding; comb or card, as wool; shred.

to ruffle (the hair) by holding it at the ends and combing toward the scalp so as to give body to a hairdo.

to raise a nap on (cloth) with teasels; teasel.

to introduce (a new product) without revealing details about it, conveying only that the product exists and will be available at a future date: Both developers teased next generation game consoles at the expo, but neither released specs.

verb (used without object), teased, teas·ing.

to provoke, disturb, torment, or bully a person or animal with persistent annoyances or harassment.

noun

a person who teases or annoys.

a person who purposely excites or sexually arouses another, but then withholds gratification: The weatherman needs to stop being such a tease with these predicted snow days.All I did was set some sexual boundaries, but now he's spreading rumors that I'm a tease.

the act of teasing or the state of being teased.

Slang. teaser (def. 5a).

Verb Phrases

tease out, to discover, understand, or disentangle (complex, interconnected, or hidden information): Only recently have scientists teased out a causal link between sleep loss and mood disorders, like anxiety.

OTHER WORDS FOR tease

1 trouble, disturb, vex; annoy.

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OPPOSITES FOR tease

1 mollify.

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Origin of tease

First recorded before 1000; Middle English verb tese(n), teise, Old English tǣsan “to pull, tear, comb”; cognate with Middle Low German tesen, Old High German zeisan “to pluck”; the noun is derivative of the verb

synonym study for tease

1. See bother.

OTHER WORDS FROM tease

teas·a·ble, adjectiveteas·a·ble·ness, nounout·tease, verb (used with object), out·teased, out·teas·ing.un·teased, adjective

Words nearby tease

tear stone, tear strip, teary, teary-eyed, Teasdale, tease, teasel, teasel family, teasel gourd, tease out, teaser

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use tease in a sentence

At the time, they were a tease, revealing little detail about their “incredibly exciting” method that matched experimental results in accuracy.
Protein Folding AI Is Making a ‘Once in a Generation’ Advance in Biology|Shelly Fan|July 20, 2021|Singularity Hub
It is this giant tease, as though someone built Carnegie Hall but forgot to put doors on it.
Gene Weingarten: New York, from the bizarre to the truly bizarre|Gene Weingarten|June 3, 2021|Washington Post
That’s the tantalizing tease Malcolm Gladwell drops in his Revisionist History podcast episode on memory … and how it failed the NBC News anchor in the worst possible way.
Do You Remember?|Sean Culligan|April 13, 2021|Ozy
Greenhouse tomatoes are ever-present — they’re a tease, often watery and dull.
How to make a wonderful BLT with out-of-season tomatoes|Daniela Galarza|February 25, 2021|Washington Post

Flood said Emrick will have a limited role with NBC and will provide the voice-over for the opening tease on Wednesday night’s telecast.
NBC Sports has parted ways with Mike Milbury, months after sexist on-air comment|Matt Bonesteel|January 11, 2021|Washington Post
He proceeds to tease me, asking if our interview is “secretly a date?”
My Bizarre Night With James Deen, Libertarian Porn Star|Emily Shire|November 12, 2014|DAILY BEAST
His youngest son, Orange Scott, was a rough-and-tumble trickster and a terrible tease.
Those Kansas City Blues: A Family History|Katie Baker|October 24, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The sexual acts are mysterious, unpredictable, and passionate; they tease your senses.
What Porn Stars Find Sexy on TV: From ‘Game of Thrones’ to ‘Deadliest Catch’|Aurora Snow|September 20, 2014|DAILY BEAST
We were about to go to sleep, but I decided to tease him about his weird habit of having the pillow a certain way on the bed.
I Was Pregnant When He Hit Me. Here's #WhyIStayed.|Anonymous|September 10, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Journalism assumes an immutable truth, that a few more calls, a bit more reporting will tease it out of reluctant informants.
We Interrupt This Broadcast: How a TV Producer Learned to Write Fiction|George Lerner|September 9, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Osmond Orgreave entered the room, quizzical, and at once began to tease Clayhanger about the infrequency of his visits.
Hilda Lessways|Arnold Bennett
The moment we arrive at the house the others begin to tease us and leave us together.
The Life & Letters of Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky|Modeste Tchaikovsky
The two engineers, being idle, had drunk liquor and were trying to tease the animals nearby.
Kari the Elephant|Dhan Gopal Mukerji
She told us children never to tease him, or worry him, but that we needn't be afraid of him, either.
The Sunbridge Girls at Six Star Ranch|Eleanor H. (Eleanor Hodgman) Porter
Dont tease me, she said, so quietly that an embarrassing silence fell between them.
The Woman Gives|Owen Johnson

British Dictionary definitions for tease

tease

/ (tiːz) /

verb

to annoy (someone) by deliberately offering something with the intention of delaying or withdrawing the offer

to arouse sexual desire in (someone) with no intention of satisfying it

to vex (someone) maliciously or playfully, esp by ridicule

(tr) to separate the fibres of; comb; card

(tr) to raise the nap of (a fabric) with a teasel

Also: backcomb US and Canadian to comb the under layers of (the hair) towards the roots to give more bulk to a hairstyle

(tr) to loosen or pull apart (biological tissues, etc) by delicate agitation or prodding with an instrument

noun

a person or thing that teases

the act of teasing

Derived forms of tease

teasing, adjectiveteasingly, adverb

Word Origin for tease

Old English tǣsan; related to Old High German zeisan to pick

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

Medical definitions for tease

tease

[ tēz ]

To separate the structural parts of a tissue, as with a needle, in order to prepare it for microscopic examination.

tease

OTHER WORDS FOR tease

OPPOSITES FOR tease

Origin of tease

synonym study for tease

OTHER WORDS FROM tease

Words nearby tease

Words related to tease

How to use tease in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for tease

Derived forms of tease

Word Origin for tease

Medical definitions for tease