tic

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Definitions (13)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. noun A habitual spasmodic muscular movement or contraction, usually of the face or extremities.
  2. intransitive verb To have a tic; produce tics.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (9)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

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Examples (50)

  • It turned out to be a fran-tic, always rushing around. —  Question Quest
  • The fran-tic was a mere blur of activity buzzing around inside. —  Question Quest
  • But I finally fashioned a de-bug potion that turned it from a cri-tic into an an-tic, and that was the best I could do. —  Question Quest
  • There was the poli-tic, who infected those with ambition and the luna-tic, who made folk crazy. —  Question Quest
  • The hera-tic, who was concerned with matters of faith, and the dras-tic with its desperate measures. —  Question Quest
 

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

snick ·  toc
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. French.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Formerly tick (see tick); from French tic (Old French also ticq, ticquet), a twitching, a disease of horses; especially in the phrase tic douloureux, ‘painful twitching,’ facial neuralgia; cf. tic, a vicious habit, = Italian ticchio, a ridiculous habit, whim, caprice; origin uncertain.
 

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/tɪk/
by American Heritage

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