View synonyms for teasing

teasing

[ tee-zing ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

the act of persistently annoying someone, especially playfully and with silly jokes about them:
Most holidays, we all manage to squeeze in at Grandma’s and enjoy a crazy day full of laughter, teasing, eating, and sharing.
the act of bullying, harassing, or tormenting someone:
Many students with learning disabilities suffer the frustration of low achievement and the teasing and poor self-image that come with it.
the act of purposely exciting, tantalizing, or sexually arousing someone without providing subsequent gratification:
She smiled over her shoulder at him, brown eyes shiny with teasing.

harassing, tantalizing, or playfully annoying someone in any of these ways:
In answer to my eager question, they shrugged a teasing “maybe.”
Lisa turns 20 next month and her mother is already sending her teasing texts featuring grandma emojis.

Origin of teasing¹

First recorded in 1585–95; teas(e) ( def ) + -ing ¹( def ) for the noun senses; teas(e) ( def ) + -ing ²( def ) for the adjective sense

The result is a standout, lyrically bleak novel whose teasing title, “The Dark Remains,” can be taken to mean a few things — none of them good.

I inherited the Arnold Family Thunder ThighsTM, which was a source of frequent teasing and distress for me as a child.

After some teasing and talking, Mulvehill writes that she is “hesitant” but they start kissing.

The teasing is so common that is has been accepted as “the standard ginger bullying” by those who Knights has encountered.

Leach ran an ad teasing Margolies about her Clinton connection, dismissing the first family of Democratic politics as old news.

The group was overheard teasing Harry about reports that he will soon be walking down the aisle.

Then I suddenly realised she was talking seriously—looking to me for help of some kind—and at once I dropped the teasing attitude.

Tom and Blanche had fallen into teasing tricks, a sort of melancholy play to relieve the tedium.

He has been teasing my parrot in its cage, and has plucked so many of its feathers that it now looks like a beaked rat.

I came up to the elephant, and seeing what was going on, told the white men to stop teasing him.

All night the thought crept through my brain like a teasing spider: What can we do to make him stay?

April 22, 2024steadfast

[sted-fast]

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