tut-tut
Americaninterjection
interjection
verb
noun
Etymology
Origin of tut-tut
First recorded in 1585–95
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:
I recognize that it’s easy to ride my high horse to a moral high ground and look down my and my horse’s nose at any app a platform creator may make and tut-tut.
From The Verge ● Mar. 11, 2020
“Suns” is a brutal but fairly simple story, so the opening-night audience knew exactly when to tut-tut.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 15, 2018
We tut-tut the silly names celebrities choose for their offspring.
From Slate ● Mar. 10, 2016
But we can all follow the Putman saga and tut-tut.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 28, 2012
Greene does not tut-tut over the fact that this reasoning depends on complex mathematics.
From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker
In the early 20th century, The Times regularly tut-tutted over antisemitism abroad, and deplored the pogroms that the Russian czar waged.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 5, 2024
In a press release the researchers tut-tutted governments for their focus on washing-machine filters, which they called a "Band-Aid" for the issue.
From Salon ● Apr. 25, 2023
The house is lived in today by scholars sympathetic to Lewis; were it in private ownership, such a layout would doubtless be tut-tutted – eaves guttedand adequate halls installed, wardrobes chucked and closets constructed.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 19, 2016
But he also tut-tutted Rad, saying it was "not his finest moment" and "I think he needs to be a little more careful about how he speaks with certain reporters."
From Washington Post ● Nov. 19, 2015
The chief radio officer at her shoulder tut-tutted under his breath.
From "Code Name Verity" by Elizabeth Wein
Will then lurches into a tut-tutting recapitulation of the French army chief of staff’s public statement that his nation’s people must accept the risk of losing their children to protect France from an unnamed aggressor.
From Salon ● Dec. 20, 2025
"It could be good for Harry in the long run, even though the older generation will be tut-tutting," she says.
From BBC ● Jun. 4, 2023
An earlier agenda item involved tut-tutting the notion of unsightly metered parking along Worth Avenue, the town’s designer-store-lined shopping strip.
From New York Times ● Feb. 9, 2021
A cheerful discussion ensued about the cost of various options for shipping, with much tut-tutting and commiserating about how prices had gone up recently, and wasn’t it a shame, and so forth.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 14, 2019
We had been tut-tutting from time to time all evening over Peter’s late arrival, but it never occurred to anyone that he wouldn’t turn up well ahead of takeoff.
From "Code Name Verity" by Elizabeth Wein
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
