Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Tickle |
TickleNoun1. A cutaneous sensation often resulting from light stroking. 2. The act of tickling. Verb1. Touch (a body part) lightly so as to excite the surface nerves and cause uneasiness, laughter, or spasmodic movements. 2. Feel sudden intense sensation or emotion; "he was thrilled by the speed and the roar of the engine.". 3. Touch or stroke lightly; "The grass tickled her calves". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "tickle" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1350. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Computing | Tickle |
Aerospace | = threshold of feeling. (references) |
Dream Interpretation | To dream of being tickled, denotes insistent worries and illness. If you tickle others, you will throw away much enjoyment through weakness and folly. Source: Ten Thousand Dreams Interpreted .... |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Synonyms: TickleSynonyms: tickling (n), titillation (n), thrill (v), titillate (v). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Amusement | Verb: amuse, entertain, divert, enliven; tickle the fancy; raise a smile, put in good humor; cause laughter, create laughter, occasion laughter, raise laughter, excite laughter, produce laughter, convulse with laughter; set the table in a roar, be the death of one. |
Giving | Tip, bribe; tickle the palm, grease the palm; offer; sacrifice, immolate. |
Pain | Bless, beatify; satisfy; gratify, desire slake, satiate, quench; indulge, humor, flatter, tickle; tickle the palate; (savory); regale, refresh; enliven; treat; amuse; take one's fancy, tickle one's fancy, hit one's fancy; meet one's wishes; win the heart, gladden the heart, rejoice the heart,bless, beatify; satisfy; gratify, desire slake, satiate, quench; indulge, humor, flatter, tickle; tickle the palate; (savory); regale, refresh; enliven; treat; amuse; take one's fancy, tickle one's fancy, hit one's fancy; meet one's wishes; win the heart, gladden the heart, rejoice the heart, warm the cockles of the heart; do one's heart good. |
Payment | Pay one's way, pay one's shot, pay one's footing; pay the piper, pay sauce for all, pay costs; do the needful; shell out, fork out; cough up, fork over; come down with, come down with the dust; tickle the palm, grease the palm; expend; put down, lay down. |
Savoriness | Verb: be savory. Adjective: tickle the palate,Verb: be savory. Adjective: tickle the palate, tickle the appetite; flatter the palate. |
Sensations of Touch | Verb: itch, tingle, creep, thrill, sting; prick, prickle; tickle,Verb: itch, tingle, creep, thrill, sting; prick, prickle; tickle, titillate. |
Taste | Verb: taste, savor, smatch, smack, flavor, twang; tickle the palate. (savory); smack the lips. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Tickle |
| English words defined with "tickle": exalt, exhilarate ♦ Kittle ♦ pain, painful sensation ♦ somatosense ♦ thrill, Tickled, Titillative. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "tickle": Dullard ♦ FIDDLE ♦ INAUSPICIOUSLY ♦ PLAUDITS ♦ threshold of feeling, tickle a bug, TICKLE PITCKEB, TICKLE TAIL, TICKLE TEXT. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | I'm going to go home grab a shower and a shave, give the wife a little pickle tickle, and be on my way. (A League of their Own ; writing credit: Lowell Ganz, Babaloo Mandel) Pepperland is a tickle of joy on the blue belly of the universe (Yellow Submarine; writing credit: Al Brodax; Jack Mendelsohn) A little advice about feelings kiddo; don't expect it always to tickle. (Ordinary People; writing credit: Judith Guest; Alvin Sargent) I'll tell ya, if I'm right about this, it's gonna tickle the life outta me (Columbo: Negative Reaction; writing credit: Peter S. Fischer) | |
Lyrics | Don't you tickle my foot bottom ha ha baby please (Mr. Boombastic; performing artist: Shaggy) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Tickle Me (1965) Don't Tickle (1920) It's Dangerous to Tickle a Soubrette (1899) Tickle Tortured Model (2002) Cat and Bound Tickle Fest (1996) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Theater & Movies | |
Music |
|
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Play | Caption |
 | Purr; meow; content; rumble; appease; bewitch; captivate; charm; delight; enrapture; gladden; gratify; humor; indulge; make happy; mollify; placate; reconcile; satisfy; suffice; thrill; tickle; please; feline. |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Author | Quotation |
Charles Lamb | A pun is not bound by the laws which limit nicer wit. It is a pistol let off at the ear; not a feather to tickle the intellect. |
Lord Chesterfield | Most people have ears, but few have judgment; tickle those ears, and depend upon it, you will catch those judgments, such as they are. |
William Shakespeare | If you prick us do we not bleed? If you tickle us do we not laugh? If you poison us do we not die? And if you wrong us shall we not revenge? |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | DULLARD, n. A member of the reigning dynasty in letters and life. The Dullards came in with Adam, and being both numerous and sturdy have overrun the habitable world. The secret of their power is their insensibility to blows; tickle them with a bludgeon and they laugh with a platitude. The Dullards came originally from Boeotia, whence they were driven by stress of starvation, their dullness having blighted the crops. For some centuries they infested Philistia, and many of them are called Philistines to this day. In the turbulent times of the Crusades they withdrew thence and gradually overspread all Europe, occupying most of the high places in politics, art, literature, science and theology. Since a detachment of Dullards came over with the Pilgrims in the Mayflower and made a favorable report of the country, their increase by birth, immigration, and conversion has been rapid and steady. According to the most trustworthy statistics the number of adult Dullards in the United States is but little short of thirty millions, including the statisticians. The intellectual centre of the race is somewhere about Peoria, Illinois, but the New England Dullard is the most shockingly moral. |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Tickle" is generally used as a lexical verb (infinitive) -- approximately 44.54% of the time. "Tickle" is used about 119 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 44.54% | 53 | 46,657 |
| Noun (singular) | 30.25% | 36 | 57,479 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 20.17% | 24 | 71,196 |
| Noun (proper) | 5.04% | 6 | 143,867 |
| Total | 100.00% | 119 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes the usage of "tickle" based on a population census conducted in the United States. Ranks and frequencies are based on all names reported and classified. |
| Name | Usage/Gender | Usage per 100 million Persons | Rank in USA |
| Tickle | Last name | 1,000 | 11,616 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits. | |||
Expressions using "tickle": threshold of tickle ♦ tickle a bug ♦ tickle a trout ♦ tickle for ♦ tickle one's fancy ♦ tickle smb.'s curiosity ♦ tickle the appetite ♦ tickle the ivories ♦ tickle the palate ♦ tickle to death ♦ tickle up. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "tickle": Tickle-footed. | |
Ending with "tickle": anti-tickle, slap-and-tickle. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
tickle | 945 | cartoon tickle | 19 |
theater tickle | 302 | boy tickle | 18 |
tickle foot | 181 | bondage tickle | 17 |
tickle me elmo | 124 | pink tickle | 17 |
tickle video | 93 | belly tickle | 17 |
story tickle | 86 | tickle tickling | 17 |
sw tickle | 70 | ana tickle | 17 |
forum media tickle | 46 | foot tickle story | 15 |
tickle pink inn | 39 | tickle your fancy | 13 |
hell tickle | 37 | tickle tickle | 13 |
tickle fetish | 35 | in throat tickle | 13 |
jon tickle | 35 | kid tickle | 13 |
fight tickle | 28 | tickle me | 12 |
kitty tickle | 27 | pic tickle | 12 |
clip tickle | 27 | masturbate nude tickle woman | 12 |
girl tickle | 23 | tickle her foot | 11 |
tickle town | 23 | tickle monster | 11 |
tickle toons | 20 | pussy tickle | 11 |
party tickle | 19 | tickle time | 11 |
picture tickle | 19 | tickle toe | 11 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "tickle"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | klikosje (tickling, titillation), klikos, gudulisje (tickling, titillation), gudulis (Kittle, titillate). (various references) | |
Arabic | فرح (cheer, cheerful, delight, gaiety, gladden, gladness, glee, gleesome, gloat, happy, joy, joyful, liven up, rejoicing, thaw), متع (feast, humor, humour), وبخ (berate, blame, carpet, castigate, check, chide, dish up, dress down, jaw, lash, moralize, quarrel, rail, raspberry, rebuff, rebuke, reprehend, reproach, reprove, scold, scotch, show up, slag, slate, snub, strafe, take to task, take up, task, tell off, tick off, upbraid), ضحك (chortle, comicality, giggle, laugh, laugh off, laughter, move, raise, rib, scream, set off), رضى (accept, be content with, cater for, feed, get on with smth., gratify, please, pleasure, sate, satisfy, unhand), دغدغة (tickling, titillation), دغدغ (titillate), داعب (dally, pet, slobber, stroke), بهج (brighten, delight, entrance, exhilarate, get excited, gladden, inebriate, regale, rejoice). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | сърби ме (itch), угаждам, радвам (delight, gladden, joy, lighten, rejoice), гъделичкане (tickling), гъделичкам (titillate), гъдел ме е (crawl), гъдел. (various references) | |
Chinese | '感, "癢 . (various references) | |
Czech | uspokojit (appease, gratify, please, satisfy), svìdit (itch, tingle), potìšit (cheer, gladden, please), pobavit (divert, entertain), lechtat (titillate), lechtání, šimrat, šimrání. (various references) | |
Danish | kildre. (various references) | |
Dutch | kriebelen (itch), kietelen. (various references) | |
Esperanto | tikli. (various references) | |
Faeroese | kitla. (various references) | |
Farsi | غلغلک دادن (Titillate), غلغلک , خاریدن (Itch). (various references) | |
Finnish | kutittaa. (various references) | |
French | chatouiller. (various references) | |
German | kitzeln (titillate), kitzele. (various references) | |
Greek | γαργαλίζω (titilate, titillate). (various references) | |
Hebrew | לשעשע (amuse, divert), ל"'"' (titillate). (various references) | |
Hungarian | csiklandozás (tickling, titillation). (various references) | |
Indonesian | menggelitiki, menggelitik (beat of, prod), menggelikan (laughable, ridiculous), gelatak. (various references) | |
Italian | stuzzicare (excite, needle, pick, poke, prod, sharpen, tantalise, tantalize, tease, whet), stimolare (abet, actuate, animate, energise, Energize, goad, incite, invite, motivate, quicken, rouse, spur, stimulate, stir, stir up, whet), solletico (tickling), solleticare (titillate), sollecitare (canvass, hasten, hurry, importune, press for, solicit, stress, urge, woo), far ridere. (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | "ぐる (to tickle), "る (to tickle). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | くすぐる (to tickle). (various references) | |
Korean | 간지럼. (various references) | |
Manx | kickley (tickling, titillate, titillation), kicklal, kickil, cred (cough, frog in throat, grunt, roughness). (various references) | |
Maya | chahl (to tickle). (various references) | |
Norwegian | kile. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | ickletay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | cócegas. (various references) | |
Romanian | stimula (abet, activate, actuate, brace, cheer, develop, dynamize, elate, Energize, enliven, excite, fillip, fire, gladden, goad, hop, incite, inspire, irritate, lash, motive, needle, pander to, pep, pep up, prick, prompt, propel, provoke, push, quicken, rouse, sharpen, spur, stimulate, stir up, urge, whet), stârni (arouse, cause, create, enkindle, excite, fan, ferment, generate, hunt out, incite, induce, invite, kick up, kindle, pander to, pique, quicken, remove, rouse, spring, start, stir), mãguli (crawl, flatter, soothe), gâdilãturã, gâdila (titillate), face plãcere (pleasure), excita (agitate, awaken, excite, irritate, pander to, quicken, rouse, sharpen, stimulate, stir up, whet), amuza (amuse, divert, entertain, recreate). (various references) | |
Russian | щекотать (titillate, tockled). (various references) | |
Scottish | diogail, ciogail, cigil. (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | zagolicati (kittle), svrbeti (itch), grebanje (scratch), golicati (titillate), golicanje (tickling, titillation). (various references) | |
Spanish | hacer cosquillas (titillate), cosquillas (tickling). (various references) | |
Swedish | kittling (tickling, titillation), kittla (Kittle, titillate). (various references) | |
Thai | ทำให้สนุกสนาน (divert), ทำให้คัน (itch), ทำให้จั๊กจี้, การจั๊กจี้, รู้สึกคัน (itch), ความรู้สึกคัน. (various references) | |
Turkish | güldürmek (amuse, make laugh, make smb. laugh, set smb. laughing), gıdıklanmak (be tickled, titillate), gıdıklanma (titillation), gıdıklamak (titillate), gıdık alma, eğlendirmek (amuse, beguile, break up, divert, entertain, feast, recreate, regale). (various references) | |
Turkmen | gyjyklamak, gyjyk. (various references) | |
Ukrainian | складний (complex, complicated, composite, compound, decomposite, elaborate, intricate, involute, involved, jointed, mazy, multiplex, operose, profound, tangled, tricky), чухатися, вибагливий (choice, finical, freakish, pernickety, persnickety), нестійкий (astatic, broken, catching, chancy, dicky, drunk, erratic, groggy, infirm, labile, non-persistent, non-resistant, quaky, sliding, staggering, top heavy, unbalanced, unfixed, unsettled, unsteady, wambly, yielding), ненадійний (chancy, faithless, fallible, incalculable, insecure, precarious, questionable, ramshackle, shifty, treacherous, trustless, truthless, unassured, unreliable, unsafe, unsure, untrustworthy, wacky, whacky), забавляти, лоскотати (titillate), лоскотання (tickling, titillation), при"мне відчуття, догоджати (adulate, cater, humor, humour, please). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | sự cù (tickling, titillation). (various references) | |
Welsh | gogleisio, goglais. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "tickle": tickled, tickler, ticklers, tickles. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "tickle": stickle. (additional references) | |
Words containing "tickle": stickleback, sticklebacks, stickled, stickler, sticklers, stickles. (additional references) | |
| |
"Tickle" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Dickle, Kickle, Mickle, Nicklo, rickle, tackel, tackl, tacle, takkle, thickle, ticke, tickel, tickley, tikel, tikkel. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "tickle" (pronounced ti"kul) |
| 5 | t i" k u l | stickle. |
| 4 | -i" k u l | brickle, fickle, Mickle, nickel, Nickle, Nicol, pickle, sickle, trickle. |
| 3 | -k u l | acoustical, aeronautical, agrochemical, allegorical, alphabetical, analytical, anarchical, anatomical, ankle, anthropological, antithetical, apolitical, archaeological, archeological, article, astrological, astronautical, astronomical, asymmetrical, atypical, autobiographical, barnacle, biblical, bicycle, bifocal, biochemical, biographical, biological, biomedical, biotechnological, botanical, buckle, cackle, categorical, cervical, chemical, Chronicle, chronological, chuckle, circle, classical, clavicle, clerical, clinical, comical, commonsensical, conical, coracle, cortical, crackle, critical, cubicle, cuticle, cycle, cyclical, cylindrical, cynical, debacle, dermatological, diabolical, diacritical, dialectical, domical, ducal, ecclesiastical, ecological, economical, ecumenical, egotistical, electrical, electrochemical, electromechanical, elliptical, empirical, encircle, encyclical, epidemiological, epochal, equivocal, eschatological, ethical, ethnical, etymological, evangelical, fanatical, farcical, fecal, fiscal, focal, follicle, freckle, galenical, geographical, geological, geometrical, geophysical, geopolitical, gonococcal, grackle, grammatical, granduncle, graphical, gynecological, hackle, heckle, helical, heretical, heterocercal, hierarchical, historical, honeysuckle, Huckle, hypercritical, hypocritical, hypothetical, hysterical, icicle, identical, ideological, illogical, immunological, impractical, Sokol, sparkle, speckle, spectacle, spherical, sprinkle, statistical, stereotypical, strategical, suckle, surgical, symmetrical, tabernacle, tackle, tactical, technical, technological, teleological, tentacle, testicle, theatrical, theological, inimical, ironical, jackal, knuckle, lackadaisical, lexical, liturgical, local, logical, logistical, lyrical, magical, maniacal, mathematical, matriarchal, mechanical, medical, meikle, metallurgical, metaphorical, metaphysical, meteorological, methodical, methodological, metrical, miracle, monocle, morphological, motorcycle, muckle, musical, mystical, mythical, mythological, nautical, neoclassical, neurological, nonelectrical, nonpolitical, nonsensical, nonsurgical, nontechnical, numerical, obstacle, ontological, optical, Oracle, oratorical, ornithological, paradoxical, particle, pathological, patriarchal, pedagogical, periodical, petrochemical, pharmaceutical, pharmacological, philosophical, phonological, photochemical, physical, physiological, pinnacle, polemical, political, pontifical, popsicle, practical, preclinical, problematical, prototypical, psychical, psychological, pumpernickel, puritanical, quizzical, rabbinical, radical, radiological, ramshackle, rankle, rascal, receptacle, reciprocal, recycle, rhetorical, ruckle, runkle, sabbatical, satirical, semiclassical, semicylindrical, semitropical, serological, shackle, shekel, skeptical, sociological, theoretical, tinkle, topical, toxicological, tricycle, tropical, twinkle, typical, typographical, tyrannical, umbilical, uncle, uncritical, uneconomical, unequivocal, unethical, unicycle, unshackle, untypical, vehicle, vertical, viatical, virological, vocal, whimsical, Winkle, wrinkle, zoological. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "c-e-i-k-l-t" | |
-1 letter: telic. | |
-2 letters: ceil, celt, cite, clit, etic, kilt, kite, lice, lick, like, lite, tick, tike, tile. | |
-3 letters: cel, elk, ice, ick, ilk, kit, lei, lek, let, lie, lit, tel, tic, tie, til. | |
-4 letters: el, et, it, li, ti. | |
| Words containing the letters "c-e-i-k-l-t" | |
+1 letter: catlike, stickle, tickled, tickler, tickles, trickle. | |
+2 letters: bluetick, cultlike, ficklest, klephtic, leukotic, luckiest, micklest, slickest, stickled, stickler, stickles, strickle, ticklers, trickled, trickles. | |
+3 letters: blockiest, blueticks, chalkiest, checklist, clunkiest, cockatiel, flockiest, hackliest, interlock, livestock, pluckiest, sickliest, skeptical, sketchily, sticklers, sticklike, stockpile, strickled, strickles, tricklier, truckline, witchlike. | |
+4 letters: alkahestic, backlisted, bootlicked, bootlicker, checklists, clerkliest, cockatiels, cocktailed, crackliest, craterlike, crinkliest, freckliest, interlocks, knuckliest, leukocytic, lipsticked, littleneck, livestocks, outslicked, politicked, politicker, prickliest, retackling, skeletonic, stockpiled, stockpiler, stockpiles, ticketless, trancelike, trickliest, trucklines, unluckiest. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Sounds 8. Quotations: Familiar | 9. Quotations: Non-fiction 10. Usage Frequency 11. Names: Frequency 12. Expressions | 13. Expressions: Internet 14. Translations: Modern 15. Derivations 16. Rhymes | 17. Anagrams 18. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
