taunt
verb/tɔːnt/
/tɔːnt/
Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they taunt | /tɔːnt/ /tɔːnt/ |
| he / she / it taunts | /tɔːnts/ /tɔːnts/ |
| past simple taunted | /ˈtɔːntɪd/ /ˈtɔːntɪd/ |
| past participle taunted | /ˈtɔːntɪd/ /ˈtɔːntɪd/ |
| -ing form taunting | /ˈtɔːntɪŋ/ /ˈtɔːntɪŋ/ |
- taunt somebody to try to make somebody angry or upset by saying unkind things about them, laughing at their failures, etc.
- The other kids continually taunted him about his size.
Extra ExamplesTopics Personal qualitiesc2, Educationc2- ‘Running away?’he taunted softly.
- The other children taunted him with nicknames.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- constantly
- regularly
- repeatedly
- …
- about
- with
Word Originearly 16th cent.: from French tant pour tant ‘like for like, tit for tat’, from tant ‘so much’, from Latin tantum, neuter of tantus. An early use of the verb was ‘exchange banter’.Want to learn more?
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taunt