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🤹 To wobble 🏞️ A seesaw
teeter

teeter

10 6.2
A long board balanced in the middle that children ride up and down in a playground
  • noun
  • /ˈtiːtər/
  • US
translation icon : subibaja
  • At the park, the children took turns riding the teeter-totter, laughing as they went up and down.
  • teeter-totter

If you on a scale, you're on this teeter totter.

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Examples

  • I let the end of the teeter-totter drop to the ground and ran down it.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • At the playground, I walk up the down end of the teeter-totter until I get to the middle.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • I told them to leave the teeter-totters out of this.

    The Whoopee Boys (1986)

  • You just got to keep them moving on those teeter-totters.

    End of the Spear (2005)

  • - You wanna play on the teeter-totter?

    Next of Kin (1989)

  • I was playing on the teeter-totter, and the next thing I knew I was on the ground, and my knee hurt

    Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (2001)

  • Put the seven books on one end of a teeter-totter and the pig on the other, and there is no contest.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • Despite the huge difference in weight, the teeter-totter jiggles ever so slightly.

    Academic text (1996)

  • But remember this safety tip: When you ride a teeter-totter, wear your seatbelt.

    2:13 (2009)

  • It's me and Pontius vs. Dunn and Bam and the last man on the teeter-totter is the winner.

    Jackass Number Two (2006)

Synonyms

seesaw
vsteeter
13 1.0

A long board balanced in the middle that two children ride up and down

is the same device but presented as the everyday term children use
teeter-totter
vsteeter
  • US
1 3.4

A long board balanced in the middle that children ride up and down

is the general common term for that same playground board
teeterboard
vsteeter
1 9.5

A long narrow board balanced in the middle that people ride up and down

is the child playground version used mainly for simple up and down play
teetertotter
vsteeter
  • US
6.1

A long board balanced in the middle that children sit on and move up and down

is the usual broad name rather than an alternate spelling or form
tilting board
vsteeter
  • Archaic
3.6

A long board balanced in the middle that children ride up and down

is the shorter everyday name rather than a literal descriptive phrase
dandle board
vsteeter
  • Archaic
4.9

A long board balanced in the middle that children ride up and down

is the common modern name rather than this less used traditional label

Compounds

teeter-totter
  • US
1 3.4

A long board balanced in the middle that children ride up and down

Surface Forms

teeter singular
teeters plural

Etymology

Teeter as a noun comes from the same playful name teeter-totter, the old children's word for a see-saw, which copies the up-and-down motion. That's why a teeter is the long board on a central support that goes 'up and down' when children ride it.