teaser
Americannoun
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teasers
plural
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a person or thing that teases.
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an advertisement that lures customers or clients by offering a bonus, gift, or the like.
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Also called tease, teaser ad. Television. a short, impressionistic image, promotional video, or audio spot that reveals very little about the product or company being advertised and is presented to generate interest in advance of the primary advertising campaign.
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Also called teaser trailer, trailer tease. Movies. a short, edited promotional video to generate interest in an upcoming film and announce its release date: a teaser is a forerunner to full-length trailers for the film that feature highlights and are shown closer to the film’s distribution date.
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Also called bumper tease. Television. bumper.
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Informal. tease.
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Theater. a drapery or flat piece across the top of the proscenium arch that masks the flies and that, together with the tormentors, forms a frame for the stage opening.
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Printing, Journalism. kicker.
noun
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a person who teases
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a preliminary advertisement in a campaign that attracts attention by making people curious to know what product is being advertised
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a difficult question
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vet science a vasectomized male animal, such as an ox, used to detect oestrus in females
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of teaser
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English teser “machine for teasing wool”; see tease, -er 1
Explanation
The nearly impossible puzzle your math teacher gives for extra credit can be called a teaser — a tricky problem to solve. A mystifying problem is one kind of teaser — another is a person who loves to tease. Your nose-grabbing, practical joking uncle is a teaser, especially if he enjoys gently mocking or making fun of you. Yet another teaser is the kind that opens a TV show — sort of a sneak preview of the story to come. This is closest to the original meaning of teaser, from 1934, "an introductory advertisement or sample."
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:
Jaguar executive Rawdon Glover told you that the brand’s 2024 teaser video and concept car were just meant to establish a “conceptual world.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
In a teaser video released on social media, Star and Lewis explained how the song came to light.
From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026
Thursday night’s game should offer a teaser of what Herbert and the Chargers’ offense are capable of.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026
A behind-the-scenes teaser trailer boasts of expending 25 tons of propane to create a realistic approximation of dragon fire and setting a new world record for setting stunt performers on fire in a single take.
From Salon ● Jun. 24, 2026
Those 2005 mortgages are only now reaching the end of their teaser rate periods, and it will be 2008 before the 2006 mortgages get there.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
McAdam's a huge Olivia Rodrigo fan and sees online spoilers more as "teasers".
From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026
Historical brain teasers: Do you know which pharaoh the Great Pyramid of Giza was constructed for?
From Slate ● Aug. 19, 2026
The countdown was also featured in the previous “Doomsday” teasers spotlighting Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers and Chris Hemsworth’s Thor.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 6, 2026
“Forensic Files stories” are told in a taut 22 minutes without teasers and repetition.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 11, 2025
So no one saw the teasers for the nightly news or watched the news that evening.
From "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng
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.
