teaser

American  

[tee-zer] / ˈti zər /

noun

• teasers
  plural

1. a person or thing that teases.

2. an advertisement that lures customers or clients by offering a bonus, gift, or the like.

3. 1. 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.

   2. 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.

   3. Also called bumper tease. Television. bumper.

4. Informal. tease.

5. 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.

6. Printing, Journalism. kicker.

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teaser British  

/ ˈtiːzə /

noun

1. a person who teases

2. a preliminary advertisement in a campaign that attracts attention by making people curious to know what product is being advertised

3. a difficult question

4. vet science a vasectomized male animal, such as an ox, used to detect oestrus in females

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• teasers
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of teaser

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English teser “machine for teasing wool”; see tease, -er ¹

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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

See Examples For:

teaser teasers

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

Warner Bros. on Wednesday shared a brief teaser of the upcoming movie on Instagram along with its new release date.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 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

It turned out to be a teaser for an unreleased headphone model nobody knew existed.

From BBC ● Jun. 25, 2026

He had told his investors that they might need to be patient—that the bet might not pay off until the mortgages issued in 2005 reached the end of their teaser rate period.

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis

Historical brain teasers: Do you know which pharaoh the Great Pyramid of Giza was constructed for?

From Slate ● Aug. 19, 2026

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

Such is the hype around Doomsday's teasers, their "will return" endings have become a meme.

From BBC ● Jan. 9, 2026

So no one saw the teasers for the nightly news or watched the news that evening.

From "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng

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Related Words

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