You searched for:
“taunt”
taught, taut, taunt, taunt, tot
taught (TAWT) (verb)
1. To have presented information in a manner for others to learn: "My father taught young people how to read for many years and his pupils were successful learners."
2. To have provided guidance to students in an academic context: "My mother taught grade school for many years before she retired."
2. To have provided guidance to students in an academic context: "My mother taught grade school for many years before she retired."
taut (TAWT) (adjective)
1. Maintained in good or proper condition: "The captain ran a taut ship and rarely had to go into port for major repairs."
2. Characterized as using minimal detail: "The report from the police was taut and included only the basic facts of the situation."
2. Characterized as using minimal detail: "The report from the police was taut and included only the basic facts of the situation."
taunt (TAWNT) (noun)
An insult, a slurring comment: "The taunt uttered by the crowd did not upset the police who were monitoring the parade."
taunt (TAWNT) (verb)
To shout cruel remarks at someone in order to make someone angry or upset: "The gang members tried to taunt the dignified man who was walking down the street."
tot (TAHT) (noun)
A small child, typically too young to attend school: "Her sister's tot is learning to play the piano which is amazing because she is so young."
His mother was quite taut as she taught her tot that it was impolite to taunt other children.
This entry is located in the following unit:
Confusing Words Clarified: Group T; Homonyms, Homophones, Homographs, Synonyms, Polysemes, etc. +
(page 2)
taunt (verb), taunts; taunted; taunting
1. To provoke, to ridicule, or to tease someone in a painful or mocking way: Some of the girls in Debbie’s class taunted and laughed at her because she wore her sister’s hand-me-down clothes to school.
2. To tantalize somebody; for example, by refusing to disclose a secret: Jane was taunted and teased by her little sister who wanted to know her boyfriend’s name!
3. To aggravate someone by deriding or mocking or criticizing him or her: Tommy was very fat and so many of the kids in his class often taunted and made fun of him.
4. To harass with persistent criticism or carping: Mike’s mother always seemed to nag and to taunt him because he seldom ever cleaned up his bedroom and put his clothes where they should be.
5. To make a sarcastic, biting speech or remark: Sometimes in presidential debates, the candidates taunt their opponents with sharp and cutting statements, some of which are totally false!.
6. To reproach with sarcastic or contemptuous words; to mock; to upbraid: Because Susan made so many mistakes in the minutes she took at the business meeting, the chairman taunted and admonished her for such exceptionally poor work.
7. Etymology: from Middle French tanter, a variance of tenter (French tenter), from Old French tempter, tenter, "to tempt, to put to the test"; from Latin temptare, "to handle, to touch, to feel, to put to the test, to try", whence also Old Provençal temptar, "to touch, to feel with the fingers; to tempt, to instigate; to attempt, to try, to test, to prove".
© ALL rights are reserved.
Go to this Word A Day Revisited Index
2. To tantalize somebody; for example, by refusing to disclose a secret: Jane was taunted and teased by her little sister who wanted to know her boyfriend’s name!
3. To aggravate someone by deriding or mocking or criticizing him or her: Tommy was very fat and so many of the kids in his class often taunted and made fun of him.
4. To harass with persistent criticism or carping: Mike’s mother always seemed to nag and to taunt him because he seldom ever cleaned up his bedroom and put his clothes where they should be.
5. To make a sarcastic, biting speech or remark: Sometimes in presidential debates, the candidates taunt their opponents with sharp and cutting statements, some of which are totally false!.
6. To reproach with sarcastic or contemptuous words; to mock; to upbraid: Because Susan made so many mistakes in the minutes she took at the business meeting, the chairman taunted and admonished her for such exceptionally poor work.
7. Etymology: from Middle French tanter, a variance of tenter (French tenter), from Old French tempter, tenter, "to tempt, to put to the test"; from Latin temptare, "to handle, to touch, to feel, to put to the test, to try", whence also Old Provençal temptar, "to touch, to feel with the fingers; to tempt, to instigate; to attempt, to try, to test, to prove".