teethe
Americanverb (used without object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
teethesimple
-
teethessimple
-
have teethedperfect
-
has teethedperfect
-
am teethingprogressive
-
are teethingprogressive
-
is teethingprogressive
-
have been teethingperfect progressive
-
has been teethingperfect progressive
Past
-
teethedsimple
-
had teethedperfect
-
was teethingprogressive
-
were teethingprogressive
-
had been teethingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of teethe
1375–1425; late Middle English tethen, derivative of teth teeth
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:
It began when her family moved from Pakistan to the United States when Chaudry was just an infant; her mother filled her bottles with half-and-half and allowed her to teethe on sticks of butter.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2022
This is a question that political philosophers teethe over constantly: “Are the citizens of a state liable for what it does in their name?”
From Washington Post ● Apr. 21, 2022
After all, Jones says, gums don’t bleed when kids teethe.
From Slate ● May 4, 2015
It soon fell out of the arms of its nurse, Secretary of Commerce Harry Hopkins, who in his oversold Des Moines speech last February failed to give it anything but words to teethe on.
From Time Magazine Archive
Dey say a bone dey finds in de jawbone of a hog will make chillun teethe easy.
From Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves Georgia Narratives, Part 3 by Work Projects Administration
Dey better send out to dat ole mule and git you some teethes.
From De Turkey and De Law A Comedy in Three Acts by Hurston, Zora Neale
This is a complaint allied to chicken-pox in children, and by no means dangerous—in fact, a puppy which teethes with such a rash has generally the making of a strong and healthy dog.
From A Manual of Toy Dogs How to breed, rear, and feed them by Williams, Mrs. Leslie
He teethed on a toy bat as an infant and grew up hoping to become the ’ right fielder, joking that Al Kaline beat him to it.
From New York Times ● Aug. 7, 2010
Big Jim Farley, who teethed on such offers, knew that such a peace was the peace of political death for him.
From Time Magazine Archive
Seeing him in this new screen portrait, today's young cinemaddicts, teethed on TNT and entering an atomic adolescence, may find him a trifle archaic.
From Time Magazine Archive
O'Rourke, 40, a baby boomer who seems to have teethed on brass knuckles and suckled on bile.
From Time Magazine Archive
She teethed on Miss Patty Cake’s arms and legs, ate her hair when she didn’t know better, squeezed her, slept with her, fed her, and sang to her.
From "One Crazy Summer" by Rita Williams-Garcia
Early ransomware attempts were not without teething troubles.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 6, 2026
Smart meter rollouts in the rest of the UK and in Ireland had no shortage of teething problems.
From BBC ● Apr. 28, 2026
Speaking on a podcast in September, Musk said that the vehicle “might have some initial teething pains because it’s such a radical redesign.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 21, 2025
There was a teething period the first couple of days as they reconvened, trying to get back on the same page that they’d left off eight years ago.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 11, 2025
“Someone should give that beast a teething ring,” she said, shaking her head.
From "The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm" by Nancy Farmer
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.
