tease
/tiːz/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.59 in modern English
5
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To manipulate or influence the behavior of, especially by repeated acts of irritation.
Transitive verb
verb
To deliberately arouse someone sexually with no intention of satisfying that arousal.
Transitive verb
Example Sentences
- "The difference between teasing and taunting is like the difference between kissing and spitting. The ingredients are the same; it is the emotion that determines whether it is pleasing or repellent.... Proper teasing says, in effect, "I know all your little oddities and faults, but as they are part of what makes you special, I find them charming." Taunting, in contrast, makes only the harsh statement, "I have noticed what is wrong with you.""
- "The beast in the past has done horrible stuff / And his victims were left quite displeased / No one knows what he's so angry about / Maybe once in third grade he was teased"
- "Not by the force of carnal reason, / But indefatigable teasing."
- "I am myself, the sweetest temper'd man alive, and hate a teasing temper; and so I tell her a hundred Times a day—"
- "He[…]suffered them to tease him into acts directly opposed to his strongest inclinations."
- ""My tastes," he said, still smiling, "incline me to the garishly sunlit side of this planet." And, to tease her and arouse her to combat: "I prefer a farandole to a nocturne; I'd rather have a painting than an etching; Mr. Whistler bores me with his monochromatic mud; I don't like dull colours, dull sounds, dull intellects;[…].""
Etymology
From Middle English tesen, from Old English tǣsan (“to tease”), from Proto-West Germanic *taisijan (“to separate, tug, shred”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: tesen, tǣsan, *taisijan