Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To disarrange or rumple; dishevel.
- n. A disheveled mass, as of hair.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To pull about roughly; plague or tease good-naturedly by pulling about: as, to tousle the girls.
- To put into disorder, as by pulling about roughly: dishevel; rumple: as, to tousle one's hair.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. colloq. To put into disorder; to tumble; to touse.
WordNet 3.0
- v. disarrange or rumple; dishevel.
Etymologies
- Middle English touselen, frequentative of tousen, to pull roughly. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“About 15 million people will watch her tousle that dyed blonde hair as she gamely re-enacts one of her iconic performances.”
The Huffington Post: Mara Reinstein: Oh Baby, Baby: Britney Spears Makes a Comeback
“Occasionally you will reach over and tousle her hair, or she may lean against your leg.”
“My gaze focused on my lover, my heart doing a little flip at the sight of him, his hair in its familiar tousle that fell over his forehead.”
“Marcus paused to scrub at his clean-shaven face, then tousle hair inexpertly trimmed with his own shears.”
“Paparazzi video and she herself becomes a kind of scoliotic (yes, I just made that word up) bionic woman after she falls from a balcony in a theatrical lovers 'tousle:”
“Mostly we learn that Gilbert was so restless that a cure for her ennui -- sex with a younger man (even one as tousle-haired as James Franco) -- didn't do it for her.”
“ I toss my pretty brunette wig in the seat next to me and tousle my own messy hair.”
“But our elected officials have been more like the children in this scenario, as sports owners tousle their hair and set the budget agendas for municipalities around the country with a simple credo: stadiums first and people last.”
“Mostly we learn that Gilbert was so restless that a cure for her ennui -- sex with a younger man even one as tousle-haired as James Franco -- didn't do it for her.”
“In the half-dark just after sunset, a tousle-haired man in a promising Pink Floyd T-shirt steps up to the mic, carrying his comforting, classic Gibson Les Paul guitar.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘tousle’.
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common UA vocab. in US
Interesting, there is a traditional vocabulary of an Ukrainian, that differs from vocabulary of average American. It would be nice to explore it.
jackdaw, incongruous, cassock, vivid, magpie, humdrum, amongst, wonder, wandering, wheedling, wheedle, osseous and 368 more...
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kalidas's Words
crepuscular, mellifluous, ephemeral, diaphanous, zeitgeist, geisterfahrer, infinite, eternal, idyllic, azure, reminiscent, oblivion and 521 more...
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Words that delight me
tepid, perfunctory, trope, benign, inordinate, bewildering, ersatz, boon, delectable, apt, scuttlebutt, sequester and 398 more...
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Wordwild's Delights
Delightful words to read and use
plangent, ribald, titubant, sidereal, pelagic, improvident, dolorous, parlous, baleful, precatory, pied, mephitic and 247 more...
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NakedFringe's Words
masticate, chamber, orchid, mandolin, yellow, pomegranate, conundrum, paradox, gyrate, calamitous, opalescent, cacophony and 533 more...
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List of words to expand my vocabulary
does what it says on the tin, and is severely needed.
indolent, insolent, idly, divulge, tattle, benign, roguish, daintily, idle, dowdy, sordid, wanton and 242 more...
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Tolland's list
Those I've come across and try to keep fresh within my mind.
clandestine, dysphoric, indictive, vigil, fractious, assiduous, indefatigable, ubiquitous, insidious, paroicous, aplomb, sangfroid and 654 more...
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words unfamiliar to me.
Unfamiliar words that are pleasing, or interesting.
tacit, repudiate, laconic, erudite, disabuse, guile, zeitgeist, cherubic, subvert, senescence, salient, fecund and 93 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, T
torquate, thalassocracy, toothsome, travois, tempestuous, tone, tincture, tripwire, tether, trill, tenacious, travesty and 355 more...
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5-0
Hecko, words! I’m so happy I’ve found you. I want to keep you all and never want to lose you again. I hope you like it here.
amscray, thistledown, tine, tinsel, pungent, snarl, wail, lanky, viscid, dawdle, luminous, stow and 2719 more...
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frequent toefl
Words that I do not know or unsure for toefl
appurtenances, aptitude, arbitrary, arboretum, argot, arrears, avocation, avuncular, badger, bait, warden, bane and 428 more...
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persnickety parlance
behoove, ebullient, insouciant, insipient, froth, quandary, quixotic, tendril, maktub, furrow, furl, anastrophe and 1076 more...
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The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter
Words gatherd while reading The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers.
eiderdown, sowbelly, shambling, linthead, bohunk, lingeringly, undervest, rosette, scroughe, gramophone, nair, tousle and 28 more...
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The Anonymous Borrower's Words
Words from the English translation of Italo Calvino's Baron in the Trees found underlined, in blue biro, by a previous reader of the Vancouver Public Library's copy of the Calvino collection entitl...
sentinel, mane, shod, rapier, tricorne, elm, carob, mulberry, shrub, waft, wren, gaiters and 49 more...
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Hairstyles
pompadour, beehive, jheri curl, buzz, afro, mullet, mohawk, moptop, bangs, zulu knots, bouffant, bun and 37 more...
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Schoolyard Suicide
See Dick run; see Dick cower, see Dick flinch, see Dick yowl; see Dick slink, see Dick lick, see Dick swell; see Dick slur "nudding" to nosy quidnuncs.
pejorative, nomenclature, deign, comestible, epicene, tarry, sobriquet, comport, querulous, inveigle, rococo, sotto voce and 69 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for tousle.
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