tongue-tie
Americannoun
verb (used with object)
noun
Etymology
Origin of tongue-tie
First recorded in 1545–55; back formation from tongue-tied
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:
While Jemma and Deepti’s babies both had a tongue-tie, there are several reasons why a mother can struggle to breastfeed.
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2024
An estimated 7% of babies are diagnosed with a condition called tongue-tie, in which the connection between the tongue and the floor of the mouth is too strong and limits tongue movement.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 29, 2024
Reporters traveled to Boise, Idaho, and observed tongue-tie surgery in Manhattan.
From New York Times ● Dec. 18, 2023
The NCT has called for more research into the best care for babies with suspected tongue-tie and a consistent NHS service across the country.
From BBC ● Feb. 12, 2022
Again, a mother may bring her infant for tongue-tie.
From The Nervous Child by Hector Charles Cameron
Even when she became tongue-tied and had to laugh her way out of it, her slips became endearing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026
In the one debate he participated in, Pratt put Bass on the defensive, turned Raman into a tongue-tied mess, kept his answers sharp and relatable, and even earned the praise of the moderators.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 10, 2026
Still others remained tongue-tied about the “quandary” at hand, as Florida Sen. Marco Rubio put it.
From Slate ● Feb. 27, 2024
Giamatti watchers may have a hard time imagining the actor tongue-tied.
From New York Times ● Jan. 7, 2024
I'd be able to have some privacy in case I got tongue-tied or started to cry.
From "It All Comes Down to This" by Karen English
Still, Americans are indebted to Canadians when it comes to this tongue-tying fruit.
From Time ● Aug. 21, 2014
Americans, he believed, should go wherever they wanted to go, although he said so in a potentially tongue-tying sentence: "Let us go on whithersoever our destiny may lead us."
From Salon ● Feb. 21, 2011
Best of all though may be the new woodchuck spot, once and for all answering the age old tongue-tying question "how much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?"
From Washington Post ● Oct. 7, 2010
But it also has other attributes prized by veteran excuse makers: it's simple, requiring no complicated, tongue-tying explanation, universally understood, vaguely virtuous and hard to check.
From Time Magazine Archive
Poor Peg tried again at the absurd tongue-tying name.
From Peg O' My Heart by J. Hartley Manners
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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.
