teaser
Americannoun
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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,. Also called 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,. Also called 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:
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
The first promotional teaser didn’t show Ejiofor or Reinsve, only a descending series of increasingly wrong-looking rooms.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 31, 2026
More than a week ago, HBO released the teaser for the reboot, introducing Dominic McLaughlin as the new face of The Boy Who Lived.
From Salon ● Apr. 2, 2026
The final bonus scene in “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” is more of a teaser for what could come in a future “Mario” installment.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 1, 2026
She wasn’t a big teaser, but sometimes she did tease, and then she called it “ribbing.”
From "Typical American" by Gish Jen
After releasing multiple short teasers to promote its upcoming superhero crossover, Marvel Studios on Monday unveiled its official trailer for “Doomsday.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2026
Like videogames, mini-dramas try to hook viewers with free episodes or teasers before asking them to pay or watch ads to unlock the remaining content.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 26, 2026
As Doomsday teasers drop, momentum and speculation build for the MCU's next big thing, due to land in cinemas on Friday 18 December, with a sequel scheduled for the following year.
From BBC ● Jan. 9, 2026
Take “Materialists,” a film that seemed like a fresh take on the 2000s-era romantic comedy thanks to its earliest teasers and trailers.
From Salon ● Jan. 6, 2026
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.
