tether
Americannoun
-
tethers
plural
-
a rope, chain, or the like, by which an animal is fastened to a fixed object so as to limit its range of movement.
-
the utmost length to which one can go in action; the utmost extent or limit of ability or resources.
verb (used with object)
-
tethers,
present (3rd person singular)
-
tethered,
past participle, past
-
tethering
present participle
-
to fasten or confine with or as if with a tether.
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Digital Technology. to use (an electronic device, usually a smartphone or tablet) to enable a wireless internet connection on another nearby device, often a laptop.
There's no Wi-Fi, so I'll have to tether my phone to my laptop.
verb (used without object)
-
tethers,
present (3rd person singular)
-
tethered,
past participle, past
-
tethering
present participle
idioms
noun
-
a restricting rope, chain, etc, by which an animal is tied to a particular spot
-
the range of one's endurance, etc
-
distressed or exasperated to the limit of one's endurance
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
tethersimple
-
tetherssimple
-
have tetheredperfect
-
has tetheredperfect
-
am tetheringprogressive
-
are tetheringprogressive
-
is tetheringprogressive
-
have been tetheringperfect progressive
-
has been tetheringperfect progressive
Past
-
tetheredsimple
-
had tetheredperfect
-
was tetheringprogressive
-
were tetheringprogressive
-
had been tetheringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of tether
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English (noun); compare Old Norse tjōthr, Dutch tuier
Explanation
Both a verb and a noun, tether keeps things tied together, or is the tie itself. Remember, when you tether that chair to those balloons, use a strong tether. You don't want to drop from the sky because you tied them together using a cheap piece of rope. Think of the childhood game tether-ball. The ball is tethered to a pole by a tether. Tether usually refers to a rope or a chain, but it can also refer to an invisible bond or link. For example, the Internet can serve as a tether that links you to your pen pal in Germany. The love between a mother and her child keeps them tethered to each other for a lifetime. And whenever astronauts go for jaunts outside the space station, they tether themselves to the station using wires and a hook.
Vocabulary lists containing tether
The Cay
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"The Odyssey" by Homer, Books 19–24
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"Hitching a Ride"
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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:
There’s just this beautiful, invisible tether that has always existed and will always exist between the two of them.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2026
With more than 11 million users, Nobitex is the primary gateway for Iranian citizens to swap rials for tether, which they can convert into other currencies abroad.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 9, 2026
They have sleeping bags that tether to the wall to keep them from floating around the capsule.
From Barron's ● Apr. 4, 2026
Crunch, as a sensation, sometimes works like a gentle tether back to appetite.
From Salon ● Jan. 29, 2026
"Copy," Beck said as he hastily latched the front of his suit to the front of Watney's with tether clips.
From "The Martian" by Andy Weir
But the way it tethers its bruised healers to the human condition’s laws of gravity is potent medicine for coping.
From Salon ● Feb. 7, 2026
“Sometimes I have to try really hard to find at least one thing that tethers a character to me,” Richardson says.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 15, 2026
While these tethers naturally want to curl up on themselves, they are held straight by a segment of DNA that is tailored to bind with the target microRNA being tested for.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 13, 2024
To support them, he anchors parallel rows of eight- or 10-foot canes into the ground, about eight inches apart within each row, and then tethers the rows together with a bamboo crossbar near the top.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 17, 2024
Mollie kept vigil over her mother, one of the last tethers to the tribe’s ancient way of life.
From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann
Due to his ageing fabric, he now usually appears tethered rather than taking to the skies.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
They can wind up with a form of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease like emphysema, tethered to oxygen as their health declines.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
I felt tethered, and felt I would be tethered to this for the rest of my life.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026
"People are moving away from the traditional mindset that certain jobs must be tethered to a specific gender," Chen Ning, the 27-year-old founder, told AFP.
From Barron's ● Jul. 8, 2026
They were tethered to hooks embedded in the fleshy ground.
From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan
As a result, more companies are changing their business models, raising gobs of cash and tethering their fortunes to the fate of AI behemoths.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 6, 2026
It may now be tethering on the edge of a bigger drop.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 29, 2026
You could, for instance, be charged for tethering your goat on a public street, fixing a leaky tap without a licence or not naming the owner of a building when asked.
From BBC ● Apr. 22, 2025
The researchers discovered that tethering the nucleolus was enough to keep it compact, and small nucleoli delayed aging to about the same extent as calorie restriction.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 25, 2024
The orphanage was the last bit of twine tethering her to New York City, and now it was gone.
From "Dactyl Hill Squad" by Daniel José Older
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.
