tease
/ti:z/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
Noun:
- The act of harassing someone playfully or maliciously: "Tease" can refer to playful or unkind provocation, often involving ridicule or persistent annoyance.
- A person who teases: "Tease" can also refer to someone who habitually mocks or provokes others.
- A seductive person: Informally, "tease" can refer to a person, especially a woman, who flirtatiously arouses interest without intending to satisfy it.
Verb:
- To make fun of or provoke playfully or maliciously: The core meaning is to annoy or make jokes about someone in a persistent, often light-hearted but sometimes hurtful, way.
- To arouse interest or curiosity without immediate satisfaction: To tantalize or create anticipation, often in advertising or flirtation.
- To disentangle or raise fibers: To separate the fibers of materials like wool or to raise the nap of a fabric.
- To tear into pieces gently: To separate something, like tissue, into small parts for examination.
Examples of Usage
Noun:
- She ignored their teases about her new haircut.
- He's such a tease; he's always making jokes at my expense.
Verb:
- The older children would often tease him about his glasses.
- The movie trailer teases the audience with glimpses of the action.
- You need to tease the wool before spinning it.
- Scientists tease apart the tissue samples to study the cells.
Advanced Usage
"To tease out": To extract or disentangle information, meaning, or details carefully.
- The interviewer tried to tease out the truth from the evasive witness.
- It took hours to tease out the meaning of the ancient text.
"To tease someone mercilessly": To tease someone in a very persistent and often harsh manner.
- His brothers would tease him mercilessly when he was a child.
Variants and Related Words
Teaser (n): 1. A difficult question or problem. 2. A short advertisement designed to arouse curiosity.
- The first question on the quiz was a real teaser.
- The studio released a teaser for the upcoming film.
Teasingly (adv): In a teasing manner.
- She smiled teasingly as she told the secret.
Synonyms
- Verb: Mock, taunt, rib, kid, bait, tantalize, provoke.
- Noun: Taunting, ribbing, mocking, provocation.
Related Phrasal Verbs
Tease apart: To separate things that are intertwined, either literally or figuratively.
- It's hard to tease apart the causes of the economic crisis.
Tease up: To backcomb or ruffle hair to give it more volume.
- She teased up her hair for the vintage look.
Related Idioms
"Just teasing" / "Only teasing": A phrase used to indicate that a previous provocative or mocking statement was meant in fun and not to be taken seriously.
- "Don't be upset—I was only teasing!"
"A tease and a wink": Suggesting something is done in a playful, flirtatious, or suggestive manner.
- The advertisement was all a tease and a wink, promising more than it showed.
Noun
- the act of harassing someone playfully or maliciously (especially by ridicule); provoking someone with persistent annoyances
- he ignored their teases
- his ribbing was gentle but persistent
- a seductive woman who uses her sex appeal to exploit men
- someone given to teasing (as by mocking or stirring curiosity)
Verb
- ruffle (one's hair) by combing the ends towards the scalp, for a full effect
- mock or make fun of playfully
- the flirting man teased the young woman
- separate the fibers of
- tease wool
- disentangle and raise the fibers of
- tease wool
- raise the nap of (fabrics)
- tear into pieces
- tease tissue for microscopic examinations
- to arouse hope, desire, or curiosity without satisfying them
- The advertisement is intended to tease the customers
- She has a way of teasing men with her flirtatious behavior
- harass with persistent criticism or carping
- The children teased the new teacher
- Don't ride me so hard over my failure
- His fellow workers razzed him when he wore a jacket and tie
- annoy persistently
- The children teased the boy because of his stammer