tic

¹

[tik]

noun

1. Pathology.

   1. a sudden, spasmodic, painless, involuntary muscular contraction, as of the face.

   2. tic douloureux.

2. a persistent or recurrent behavioral trait; personal quirk.

   her distinctive verbal tics.

-tic

²

1. a suffix, equivalent in meaning to -ic, occurring in adjectives of Greek origin (analytic ), used especially in the formation of adjectives from nouns with stems in -sis: hematotic; neurotic.

tic

/ tɪk /

noun

1. spasmodic twitching of a particular group of muscles

2. See tic douloureux

Word History and Origins

Origin of tic¹

First recorded in 1790–1800; from French (of expressive origin)

Origin of tic²

< Greek -tikos, extracted from adjectives derived with -ikos -ic from agent nouns ending in -tēs; hieratic

Word History and Origins

Origin of tic¹

C19: from French, of uncertain origin; compare Italian ticche

Example Sentences

The circle worried him, and his left eyelid jumped, a tic that had recently developed.

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In addition, the Fed team concluded that TIC data is not capturing just how much Cayman-domiciled hedge funds are dominating positions in the so-called basis trade.

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TIC data is the main source of U.S. data on cross-border securities and banking.

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Meanwhile, the gap between what’s being reported in the Treasury Department’s TIC data versus what’s reported to the Securities and Exchange Commission has widened to almost $1.4 trillion as of the end of last year.

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“TIC data on Cayman Islands holdings of Treasuries do not appear to be picking up the Treasury transactions associated with the basis trade activity” that can be seen on the hedge funds’ filings to the SEC, according to the Fed note.

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Related Words

• twitch