TAUNT
What does "TAUNT" mean?
To provoke or mock someone with insulting or contemptuous remarks.
Meanings
- To jeer at or provoke someone in a mocking, insulting way. The crowd taunted the referee after the call.
- A scornful or provoking remark. She ignored his taunts and kept walking.
Did you know?
- 'Taunt' is thought to come from the French 'tant pour tant' - 'so much for so much', or tit for tat - so the word itself is built from the idea of trading blow for verbal blow.
Word origin
Probably from French 'tant pour tant' meaning 'tit for tat, like for like', a phrase implying a sharp retort; adopted into 16th-century English.
Remember it
TAUNT contains 'AUNT' - picture a relative needling you across the table to get a rise.
A little poem
The jeer is a hook
thrown to see if you will bite-
still water won't rise.
haiku
What it teaches
A taunt only lands where it finds a matching wound; the calm face starves it.
Quick facts
What does TAUNT mean?
To provoke or mock someone with insulting or contemptuous remarks.
Is TAUNT a valid word?
Yes — TAUNT is one of the answer words in Wordul, the daily word game.
How many letters is TAUNT?
TAUNT has 5 letters and 1 syllable.
Where does TAUNT come from?
Probably from French 'tant pour tant' meaning 'tit for tat, like for like', a phrase implying a sharp retort; adopted into 16th-century English.
What can TAUNT teach us?
A taunt only lands where it finds a matching wound; the calm face starves it.
How players do
Be the first to solve it.