tickle

[ tik-uhl ]

/ ˈtɪk əl /

|||

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR tickle ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object), tick·led, tick·ling.

to touch or stroke lightly with the fingers, a feather, etc., so as to excite a tingling or itching sensation in; titillate.

to poke some sensitive part of the body so as to excite spasmodic laughter.

to excite agreeably; gratify: to tickle someone's vanity.

to excite amusement in: The clown's antics really tickled the kids.

to get, move, etc., by or as by tickling: She tickled him into saying yes.

verb (used without object), tick·led, tick·ling.

to be affected with a tingling or itching sensation, as from light touches or strokes: I tickle all over.

to produce such a sensation.

noun

an act or instance of tickling.

a tickling sensation.

Nearby words

tickets, tickety-boo, tickey, ticking, ticklace, tickle, tickle one's fancy, tickle the ivories, tickled pink, tickler, tickler coil

Idioms

tickled pink, Informal. greatly pleased: She was tickled pink that someone had remembered her birthday.

Origin of tickle

1300–50; Middle English tikelen, frequentative of tick¹ (in obsolete sense) to touch lightly

SYNONYMS FOR tickle

4 amuse, please, delight, enchant.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR tickle ON THESAURUS.COM

Related forms

un·tick·led, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for tickled

Somewhere in the Afterlife, Laurence Sterne must have been tickled to see his fiendish book infused with new life.
Crazy Cartography: Artists and Writers Conjure a Slew of Imaginative Maps|Lauren Elkin|April 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The one thing that may have tickled them more was when Mitch McConnell showed up on stage brandishing a rifle.
CPAC: Come for the Crazy, Stay for the Party|Michelle Cottle|March 7, 2014|DAILY BEAST
He was just tickled and amused by the situation, punky and very funny.
NCIS’s 11th Anniversary: Michael Weatherly’s Top 10 Moments|Michael Weatherly|September 23, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Steel balls caromed around the table as the player massaged, tickled, pressed, and slammed the flipper buttons.
Paris Cafes Lose Their Pinball Machines, as Numbers Dwindle|Solène Cressant|July 13, 2013|DAILY BEAST

This potential use seems to have tickled the imaginations of many, many bitcoin fanciers.
Why Bitcoin is a Bubble|Megan McArdle|April 10, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Cigarette laughed saucily and heartily, tickled at the joke.
Under Two Flags|Ouida [Louise de la Ramee]
He knew Miss Travers intimately; her appreciation of humour was vast, for a woman; he felt sure she would be tickled.
A Bride from the Bush|E. W. (Ernest William) Hornung
This tickled Mr. Sloppy as an extraordinarily good joke, and he threw back his head and laughed with measureless enjoyment.
Ten Girls from Dickens|Kate Dickinson Sweetser
He'll talk to me all friendly like, en Maizie will be tickled at yer size en talk about circuses en sich.
David Lannarck, Midget|George S. Harney
The woman was, as Prissy had assured Abram, “tickled to pieces.”
The Fighting Shepherdess |Caroline Lockhart

British Dictionary definitions for tickled

tickle

/ (ˈtɪkəl) /

verb

to touch, stroke, or poke (a person, part of the body, etc) so as to produce pleasure, laughter, or a twitching sensation

(tr) to excite pleasurably; gratify

(tr) to delight or entertain (often in the phrase tickle one's fancy)

(intr) to itch or tingle

(tr) to catch (a fish, esp a trout) by grasping it with the hands and gently moving the fingers into its gills

tickle pink or tickle to death informal to please greatlyhe was tickled pink to be elected president

noun

a sensation of light stroking or itching

the act of tickling

Canadian (in the Atlantic Provinces) a narrow strait

Derived Forms

tickly, adjective

Word Origin for tickle

C14: related to Old English tinclian, Old High German kizziton, Old Norse kitla, Latin titillāre to titillate

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012