tongue-tied
/ˈtʌŋtʌɪd
/adjective
1Too shy or embarrassed to speak: Barbara was tongue-tied in the presence of her parents...
- Neither could really speak, being tongue-tied and breathless.
- Anonymous messaging and chat rooms let you flirt to your heart's content without any embarrassment or getting tongue-tied.
- He became tongue-tied, embarrassed, and never acted like himself.
Synonyms
lost for words, at a loss for words, struck dumb, dumbstruck, bereft of speech, speechless, wordless, unable to get a word out, inarticulate;
mute, dumb, voiceless, silent
informal mum
rare dumbstricken, mumchance, obmutescent
2Having a malformation restricting the movement of the tongue.I was born tongue-tied in the most literal sense: the tissue connecting my tongue to the floor of my mouth was short and thick, limiting lingual movement....
- If you are medically tongue-tied, you shouldn't be able to touch the tip of your tongue to the roof of your mouth with your mouth open as wide as you can.