tease
verb (used with object)
to irritate or provoke with persistent petty distractions, trifling jests, or other annoyances, often in a playful way.
teased
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past participleof tease.past participle
A verb form used in perfect and passive verb constructions and that can also function as a modifier.
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past tense formof tease.past tense
Used to describe completed actions or previous habitual actions.
teaseverb (used with object)to irritate or provoke with persistent petty distractions, trifling jests, or other annoyances, often in a playful way.
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.
He also teased the friendly competition between him and his partner, actress Keri Russell, who was up for an Emmy for her role in The Diplomat this year.
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026
He also teased tariff and ‘DOGE’ dividends last year that never came.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 10, 2026
The White House released several games Thursday, with a placeholder that teased another one "coming soon."
From Barron's ● Sep. 4, 2026
Zuckerberg recently teased the idea of launching a cloud computing business to directly monetize its investments in data-center infrastructure.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
Completely shocked, the dragon teased, trying to move.
From "Half Upon a Time" by James Riley
