to tease
245
1.9
- verb
- /tiːz/
:
burlarse de
- "That's good coming from you," she teased, "who only started talking last week."
- teased and bullied
- children tease
- tease others
They're lying, they're cheating, they're betraying, they're mocking, they're teasing, they're invalidating.
- They're lying, they're cheating, they're betraying, they're mocking, they're teasing, they're invalidating.
- The kids in the play yard point and tease and ridicule and abuse and be.
- I don't want them to be teased at school by the other students.
- So like I know I was aware that being teased is hurtful.
- But people always kind of tease me because I talk about love a lot.
- Most kind of rational, you know, intellectual types would tease or mock or say we're crazy.
- And they said, you know, I go, well, I tease my sisters too much.
- That moment where you tease them or create a little tension is playground stuff.
- So it's not only that they are played upon and discriminated against, teased and bullied.
- And then Carolyn Abbinson says, don't tease her.
- Like she'll suck her thumb just to like, tease them.
- And once he even forgot to tease Ben with his spoon and white fingers.
Examples
-
That's why you tease me so much, isn't it?
-
I was teasing Sharif about that before you came in.
-
But people always kind of tease me because I talk about love a lot.
-
We all get mad when people tease or call us names.
Academic text (2000) -
I wish you wouldn't pick on Rose and tease her like that.
Fiction book (1991) -
So we all got out of the bus laughing and teasing him.
Academic text (2008) -
Young people who exhibit behaviors deemed not gender-appropriate are teased and bullied by family members and peers.
Academic text (2000) -
Marisol, a Hispanic fourth grader, is being teased by her classmates on the playground.
Academic text (1998) -
At recess, the kids love to tease each other by telling silly jokes.
-
She playfully teased her friend about his new hairstyle.
Synonyms
∞
3.5
To tease someone in a friendly, playful way
307
2.3
Laugh at someone or say things that make them feel embarrassed
144
3.6
Annoy someone again and again to make them react
93
5.8
To mock someone again and again to make them angry or upset
85
3.7
To annoy someone by bothering them repeatedly
62
7.5
To annoy someone by criticizing them again and again
39
4.7
To annoy someone by asking them the same thing many times
35
6.8
To tease someone to make them angry or upset
25
3.9
To make jokes about someone to make them look silly
23
3.4
To make jokes about someone, sometimes to be playful and sometimes to be unkind
7
9.3
To tease or criticize someone in a friendly way
7
6.5
Make fun of someone in a friendly, playful way
5
9.1
To tease someone in a playful or annoying way
5
5.2
To tease someone repeatedly in a friendly way
4
9.8
To tease someone again and again with small mean remarks
2
3.8
To tease someone in a friendly, joking way
2
7.5
To laugh at someone and say unkind things about them
2
8.6
To trouble or annoy someone again and again
1
7.2
To tease someone repeatedly, either playfully or cruelly
1
7.5
To joke or tease someone in a friendly way
1
8.1
To tease someone in a playful way
1
8.2
To tease someone with repeated mean or mocking remarks
1
9.1
To tease someone by making jokes about them in a friendly way
1
9.0
To tease or nag someone, often in a playful way
1
8.7
Tease someone to make them react
1
4.1
To tell someone something that is not true to make them laugh
To tease or nag someone in a way that annoys them
To make fun of someone in a playful way
Laugh at someone or treat something serious as a joke
Antonyms
Phrasal Verbs
Compounds
- Offensive
1
9.9
A rude word for a person who shows sexual interest but refuses sex, often making others feel upset
How Teasing
- Offensive
414
6.1
- Offensive
19
5.4
- Offensive
27
5.5
245
1.9
- Informal
∞
3.5
- Informal
9
4.6
Surface Forms
Etymology
Tease also grew from the same old idea of 'pulling' and came to mean 'to pull at someone' in a playful way, which turned into joking or annoying others. So to tease someone now means to mock or provoke them, often as a joke.