Meaning of tease in English

tease

/tiːz/ us

/tiːz/

tease verb [I or T] (MAKE FUN OF)

to laugh at someone or say unkind things about them, either because you are joking or because you want to upset that person:

be teased about I used to hate being teased about my red hair when I was at school.

I was just teasing - I didn't mean to upset you.

Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples

to tease someone

teaseThe boys teased her mercilessly on the playground.
jokeI've lost your passport. Only joking!
kidI'm sorry, I forgot to get you a birthday present. Just kidding!
pull someone's legIs that really your car or are you pulling my leg?
ribHis brothers were ribbing him about his new girlfriend.
make fun ofThe other children made fun of him because he wore glasses.

See more results »

More examplesFewer examples

Don't tease him about his weight - it's cruel.
He said he was going to leave us there, but I think he was only teasing.
They teased him mercilessly about his accent.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Teasing

See more results »

tease verb [I or T] (INTEREST)

to give a small amount of information about a subject, product, etc. in order to make people interested in seeing or hearing more about it later:

The announcement teased a possible European tour the following year.

He refused to give specifics but teased that "people are going to love it."

Related word

teaser

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Absent

See more results »

tease verb [I or T] (HAIR)

(UK backcomb)

to hold your hair away from your head and brush it towards your head with a comb, in order to make it look thicker

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Hairstyles

See more results »

Phrasal verbs

tease something apart

tease something out

tease

noun [ C ]

/tiːz/ us

/tiːz/

someone who is always teasing people:

Johnny, don't be such a tease - leave your sister alone!

slang disapproving

someone who enjoys causing sexual excitement and interest in people she or he does not intend to have sex with

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Teasing

See more results »

(Definition of tease from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

tease | American Dictionary

tease

verb [ I/T ]

/tiz/

Add to word list Add to word list

to intentionally annoy a person or animal by saying something that is not true or pretending to do something, often in a playful way:

[ T ] Don’t tease the dog by showing her the treat if you’re not going to give it to her.

[ I ] I was only teasing (= joking), I didn’t mean anything by it.

tease

noun [ C ]

/tiz/

a person who likes to annoy other people by saying false things or pretending to do something

(Definition of tease from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

What is the pronunciation of tease?

Translations of tease

in Chinese (Traditional)

戲弄，逗弄, 取笑，招惹, 反梳（頭髮）使之蓬起…

in Chinese (Simplified)

戏弄，逗弄, 取笑，招惹, 反梳（头发）使之蓬起…

in Spanish

burlarse de, meterse con, burlarse…

in Portuguese

zoar, tirar sarro de, provocar…

in more languages

in Marathi

in Japanese

in Turkish

in French

in Catalan

in Dutch

in Tamil

in Hindi

in Gujarati

in Danish

in Swedish

in Malay

in German

in Norwegian

in Urdu

in Ukrainian

in Telugu

in Bengali

in Czech

in Indonesian

in Thai

in Vietnamese

in Polish

in Korean

in Italian

सतावणे, चिडवणे…

～をからかう, いじめる, からかう…

takılmak, eğlenmek, kızdırmak…

taquiner, agacer, taquin/-e…

riure’s de…

plagen, plaaggeest…

ஒருவரைப் பார்த்து சிரிப்பது அல்லது அவர்களைப் பற்றி கொடூரமான விஷயங்களைச் சொல்வது, நீங்கள் கேலி செய்வதால் அல்லது அந்த நபரை வருத்தப்படுத்த விரும்புவதால்…

छेड़ना, चिढ़ाना…

ચીડવું…

drille, drillepind…

reta, retas med, retsticka…

mengusik-usik, orang yg suka mengusik…

necken, hänseln, der Hänsler…