tethered

American  

[teth-erd] / ˈtɛð ərd /

adjective

1. fastened or confined with or as if with a rope, chain, or the like to limit the range of movement.

   On this field trip, students will have the opportunity to take a ride in a tethered hot-air balloon.

   Too many lawmakers are partisan, inept, or too lightly tethered to reality.

2. Digital Technology. (of an electronic device) used to enable a wireless internet connection on another nearby device, often a laptop.

   You can browse the web more securely using a tethered phone, because your information is being sent directly through the phone rather than over a public wireless hotspot.

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verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of tether.

Other Word Forms

• untethered adjective

Etymology

Origin of tethered

tether ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. )

Explanation

Tethered describes something that's tied up, like a horse that's tethered to a fence or a dog that's tethered to the person who is walking it. Whenever you confine a person or an animal to keep them in one place, they're tethered. A bank robber might leave his hostages tethered together in the vault, and you might keep your fence-jumping dog tethered to the porch when she's out in your yard. The root word is the Old Norse tjoðr, tether, which was used only as a noun to describe the rope that ties animals until the late 15th century, when the verb form developed.

Example Sentences

These four new episodes feel structurally tethered to the mothership.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 9, 2026

Dense layers of carefully manipulated sound—elements that seem alienating in some electronic music—are tethered to Ms. Muldrow’s mostly improvised words to suggest the complexities of human emotion.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 4, 2026

Standing beside a row of tethered punts on the River Stour, boatman James Matharu says while he has heard about other businesses getting cancellations, things are "still pretty busy here".

From BBC • Mar. 21, 2026

The fates of farmers, investment managers, banks and governments are indirectly tethered to the quality of the assets held as margin by brokerage and clearing firms.

From Barron's • Feb. 24, 2026

A vehicle was driving into the parking lot, a dusty truck with two goats tethered on the open loading platform.

From "Inkheart" by Cornelia Funke

Related Words

• barred
• blocked
• closed
• confined
• controlled
• defined
• deprived
• prescribed
• reduced
• restrained
• secured
• shortened