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’.