tile

[ tahyl ]

/ taɪl /

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See synonyms for: tile / tiled / tiles / tiling on Thesaurus.com

noun

a thin slab or bent piece of baked clay, sometimes painted or glazed, used for various purposes, as to form one of the units of a roof covering, floor, or revetment.

any of various similar slabs or pieces, as of linoleum, stone, rubber, or metal.

tiles collectively.

a flat, rectangular playing piece used in certain games, as Scrabble and mah-jongg.

a pottery tube or pipe used for draining land.

Also called hollow tile. any of various hollow or cellular units of burnt clay or other materials, as gypsum or cinder concrete, for building walls, partitions, floors, and roofs, or for fireproofing steelwork or the like.

Informal. a stiff hat or high silk hat.

verb (used with object), tiled, til·ing.

to cover with or as with tiles.

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Origin of tile

First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English tīgele (cognate with German Ziegel ), from Latin tēgula

OTHER WORDS FROM tile

tilelike, adjectivere·tile, verb (used with object), re·tiled, re·til·ing.

Words nearby tile

Tilburg, tilbury, tilde, Tilden, Tildy, tile, tiled, tile field, tilefish, tiler, tilery

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use tile in a sentence

The total volume is the sum of the individual volumes of all the tiles used in the triangulation.
A Mathematician’s Unanticipated Journey Through the Physical World|Kevin Hartnett|December 16, 2020|Quanta Magazine
“The tiles make a huge impact, and they definitely define the room,” she says.
Captivated by bold tile on social media? Here’s what to consider before committing to the look.|Elizabeth Mayhew|October 29, 2020|Washington Post
Assistant will now be possible to add as a tile on Tobii’s eye-tracking tablets and mobile apps, which present a large customizable grid of commonly used items that the user can look at to activate.
Google Assistant comes to gaze-powered accessible devices|Devin Coldewey|October 6, 2020|TechCrunch
In 2014, a patient’s wife filed suit after soaked ceiling tiles fell and struck her in the head while she was sitting in the hospital lobby.
Investors Extracted $400 Million From a Hospital Chain That Sometimes Couldn’t Pay for Medical Supplies or Gas for Ambulances|by Peter Elkind with Doris Burke|September 30, 2020|ProPublica

Within that space, there are infinitely many ways of placing infinitely many tiles.
Computer Search Settles 90-Year-Old Math Problem|Kevin Hartnett|August 19, 2020|Quanta Magazine
Tile work in the bathrooms, furniture, and artwork on the walls all flowed together and carried his creative touch.
When Gary Wright Met George Harrison: Dream Weaver, John and Yoko, and More|Gary Wright|September 29, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Revered and dutiful, he fought (and was injured) in World War II, and succeeded to the tile in 1953.
For Sale: The $3M British Mountain—With Aristocratic Family Feud Included|Tom Sykes|August 24, 2014|DAILY BEAST
As I reach the berm of sand, tile and stucco that marked a kind of front line, bodies are being piled on carts in the street.
Who Is Behind Gaza's Mass Execution?|Jesse Rosenfeld|August 1, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The second he does, her giggle sends the Queen of Spades cascading to the brown tile floor below.
Hallucinating Away a Heroin Addiction|Abby Haglage|May 4, 2014|DAILY BEAST
She was standing out of the way, over against the gray tile wall.
Jimmy Breslin on JFK’s Assassination: Two Classic Columns|Jimmy Breslin|November 22, 2013|DAILY BEAST
It is in the Elizabethan style, with half-timber frame and sagging tile roof.
British Highways And Byways From A Motor Car|Thomas D. Murphy
A variety of paving tile called "oven tiles" is of similar material to the ordinary red brick, and in size is 10 or 12 in.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 3|Various
Gutters also of tile ran along the eaves to conduct the water into cisterns, if it was needed for domestic purposes.
The Private Life of the Romans|Harold Whetstone Johnston
The roofs are of tile, for the winters on the hills are too severe to permit the flat, terraced roofs of Algiers or Bona.
Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Volume 11, No. 24, March, 1873|Various
This stopper sometimes is of tile, sometimes a plug of paper or burlap.
Elements of Plumbing|Samuel Dibble

British Dictionary definitions for tile

tile

/ (taɪl) /

noun

a flat thin slab of fired clay, rubber, linoleum, etc, usually square or rectangular and sometimes ornamental, used with others to cover a roof, floor, wall, etcRelated adjective: tegular

a short pipe made of earthenware, concrete, or plastic, used with others to form a drain

tiles collectively

a rectangular block used as a playing piece in mah jong and other games

British old-fashioned, slang a hat

on the tiles informal on a spree, esp of drinking or debauchery

verb

(tr) to cover with tiles

Derived forms of tile

tiler, noun

Word Origin for tile

Old English tīgele, from Latin tēgula; related to German Ziegel

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

tile

Origin of tile

OTHER WORDS FROM tile

Words nearby tile

Words related to tile

How to use tile in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for tile

Derived forms of tile

Word Origin for tile