Nearby Words
adjective, tart·er, tart·est.
1.
sharp to the taste; sour or acid: Tart apples are best for pie. Synonyms: astringent, acrid, piquant. Antonyms: sweet, sugary, bland, mellow.
2.
sharp in character, spirit, or expression; cutting; biting: a tart remark. Synonyms: sarcastic, barbed, caustic, acerbic, acrimonious. Antonyms: sweet, kind, gentle, gracious, benign.
Origin:
before 1000; Middle English; Old English teart sharp, rough; akin to Dutch tarten to defy, Middle High German traz defiance
before 1000; Middle English; Old English teart sharp, rough; akin to Dutch tarten to defy, Middle High German traz defiance
Related forms
tart·ish, adjective
tart·ish·ly, adverb
tart·ly, adverb
tart·ness, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source
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Tartly
is always a great word to know.
So is interrobang. Does it mean:
| a chattering or flighty, light-headed person. |
| a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question. |
Collins
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Etymonline
Word Origin & History
tart
"prostitute," 1887, from earlier use as a term of endearment to a girl or woman (1864), sometimes said to be a shortening of sweetheart. But another theory traces it to jam-tart (see tart (n.1)), which was British slang early 19c. for "attractive woman." To tart (something) up is from 1938.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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