Test Your Vocabulary

Take Our 10-Question Quiz

Name That Thing

Take our visual vocab quiz

Test Your Knowledge »

True or False?

A quick quiz about stuff worth knowing

Take It Now »

Join Us on FB & Twitter

Get the Word of the Day and More

Facebook | Twitter

tic-tac-toe


tic–tac–toe

noun \ˌtik-ˌtak-ˈtō\

Definition of TIC-TAC-TOE

: a game in which two players alternately put Xs and Os in compartments of a figure formed by two vertical lines crossing two horizontal lines and each tries to get a row of three Xs or three Os before the opponent does

Variants of TIC-TAC-TOE

tic–tac–toe or tick–tack–toe \ˌtik-ˌtak-ˈtō\

Origin of TIC-TAC-TOE

tic-tac-toe, former game in which players with eyes shut brought a pencil down on a slate marked with numbers and scored the number hit
First Known Use: circa 1866

Browse

Next Word in the Dictionary: ticul
Previous Word in the Dictionary: ticky–tacky (adjective)
All Words Near: tic-tac-toe

Seen & Heard

What made you want to look up tic-tac-toe? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).