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.
-
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:
The findings, published in Current Biology, suggest that the spiral forms as the embryo's body rapidly lengthens while its gut acts as a tether.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 1, 2026
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
They have sleeping bags that tether to the wall to keep them from floating around the capsule.
From Barron's ● Apr. 4, 2026
Investigators found Hexa used the account to move about $500 million worth of the stablecoin tether over several months since 2024 to what investigators referred to as “Entity A.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 23, 2026
All it would take are a few well-chosen words to cut the tether.
From "Every Day" by David Levithan
Since his family is gone, nothing tethers him to his human life.
From Salon ● Sep. 8, 2025
The building, which has asymmetrical overhead lighting resembling stars, represents the sky, Govan noted, and Castillo Deball’s artwork tethers the building to the land.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 10, 2025
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
For a moment, every ghost in the citadel felt their tethers fall slack.
From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor
Rodriguez was even more direct, saying, “I think those are all tethered together to make you swallow the poison.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 30, 2026
Because grief “feels like the blanket that everyone is tethered to in some way,” Bareilles doesn’t hold anything back in these lyrics or performances.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
In South Bank, we see a group of teenagers tend three ponies tethered on the grass.
From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026
Already established by the 1940s, Avery’s work grows simpler, more expansive, flatter and with larger color blocks, but his images remain tethered to the real world.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 1, 2026
Grace needed to be tethered to someone again.
From "Far from the Tree" by Robin Benway
Colonel Parker, Elvis’s manager, kept his cash cow on a leash, tethering him first to middling B-pictures, then to casinos.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 19, 2026
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
As Katz raced past me, I seized hold of the rope tethering my wrists to the pipe overhead and swung myself forward, kicking out with both my feet.
From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
