tut
Americaninterjection
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(used as an exclamation of contempt, disdain, impatience, etc.)
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for shame!
noun
verb (used without object)
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tuts,
present (3rd person singular)
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tutted,
past participle, past
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tutting
present participle
interjection
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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tutsimple
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tutssimple
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have tuttedperfect
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has tuttedperfect
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am tuttingprogressive
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are tuttingprogressive
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is tuttingprogressive
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have been tuttingperfect progressive
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has been tuttingperfect progressive
Past
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tuttedsimple
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had tuttedperfect
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was tuttingprogressive
-
were tuttingprogressive
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had been tuttingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of tut
First recorded in 1520–30
Explanation
To tut is to express your feelings of irritation or displeasure. You might tut quietly at your friend's badly behaved dog. Since the 1520s, tut and tut-tut have been used as interjections to express contempt or impatience; and to make such a disapproving sound is to tut. Your substitute teacher might say, "Tut, class, I'm not happy with all the noise you're making," and your piano teacher might tut a bit when you confess that you didn't practice at all this week.
Vocabulary lists containing tut
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:
"We see people tut when they hold hands or kiss in public," she said.
From BBC ● Dec. 28, 2025
Those concerned that the stock market is vulnerable to a sharp pullback may tap their screens and tut at the chart from Torsten Slok, Apollo’s chief economist.
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 15, 2025
"Ya tut," he said, meaning: "I am here."
From Reuters ● Feb. 15, 2023
I tut with the moralising disapproval of a Victorian dad, since you ask.
From The Guardian ● Jan. 7, 2022
It seemed odd tkat this wouldkappen, tut they were truly an unusual kousekold.
From "Where the Mountain Meets the Moon" by Grace Lin
Peeking over her shoulder at her notes, he tuts, “Doesn’t sycophant have an ‘o’?”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 28, 2025
But Glenconner knows what I’m up to: “You’re edging closer to asking me about Meghan Markle,” she tuts.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 20, 2020
At the bottom of the cartoon, Uncle Sam tuts, “Bill, you’d look so much better in your own clothes.”
From Washington Post ● Apr. 10, 2019
It’s a righteously angry movie: “The whole damn city has a ‘for rent’ sign on it,” tuts a character.
From Slate ● Jul. 16, 2018
Far away—too far away for me to care—someone tuts with disapproval, but I ignore it as the splendor builds in my core.
From "Beasts of Prey" by Ayana Gray
I tutted something about the symptoms of perimenopause and ignored it - but two days later I was laid up in bed with gastric flu.
From BBC ● Dec. 1, 2024
“Tall John is running late today, too,” Tutt tutted.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 4, 2022
She tutted at the audacity of doubting “feminine creative forces.”
From New York Times ● Mar. 17, 2022
In one of the heart-rending conversations we had, days before her death, my mother shook her head and tutted: “I’m disappointed. You should have had me for another 30 years.”
From The Guardian ● Nov. 9, 2019
Miss Spink tutted and reached for the cup.
From "Coraline" by Neil Gaiman
When the tutting man left, the woman turned to Mr. Sharkey.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026
At first, Evelyn dismisses her husband's frivolity, tutting as she removes the eyes from around her workplace.
From BBC ● Mar. 13, 2023
Choreographer Randi Freitas performed alongside a crew of dancers krumping and tutting to Kendrick Lamar down a black runway in the yard.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 1, 2022
The numbers are set off here in little explosions, courtesy of the Madrids’ rat-a-tat tutting moves.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 19, 2021
I walked past the end of the bed to close her window, tutting at her reproachfully.
From "An Elephant in the Garden" by Michael Morpurgo
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
