titillate

verb

tit·​il·​late ˈti-tə-ˌlāt How to pronounce titillate (audio)
titillated; titillating

transitive verb

1
: to excite pleasurably : arouse by stimulation
2

intransitive verb

: to act as a stimulant to pleasurable excitement
titillation noun
titillative adjective

Examples of titillate in a Sentence

a film made to titillate the audience writing that titillates and provokes
Recent Examples on the Web So can an actual connection — at any age — do more for a film than titillating casting? Oscar- and Tony-winner — and three-time Emmy nominee — Marcia Gay Harden thinks so. Diane Farr, EW.com, 15 Feb. 2024 After being subjected to titillating media coverage of her romance with William, a classmate at St. Andrews University in Scotland, Catherine has carved out an identity as a parent, a patron of charities and a dauntless companion to her husband on foreign tours. Mark Landler, New York Times, 17 Jan. 2024 Florida taxpayers have also underwritten stunts that have everything to do with titillating the right-wing media and nothing to do with governing Florida. Fred Grimm, Sun Sentinel, 12 Jan. 2024 We are left intrigued and titillated as the film’s tonal zigzagging descends into a delicious, deplorable, rich-person farce. Raven Smith, Vogue, 3 Jan. 2024 Just as Catholicism had appropriated Andean sanctity, so now did tourism titillate visitors in a place where pilgrims had come with holy dread in their hearts. Aatish Taseer, New York Times, 9 Nov. 2023 Under surer and more collaborative leadership during the original production, these contrasting elements had the potential to work together chocolate-and-peanut butter style to give audiences something unprecedented: a film that was both titillating and thought provoking. Todd Gilchrist, Variety, 4 Oct. 2023 Class and race collide and titillate the tabloid-reading public: a poor man laying claim to a great fortune, supported by the son of a slave. Lynn Steger Strong, The New Republic, 15 Sep. 2023 Rodrigo’s work is more analogous, then, to that of Girl Talk, the d.j. who titillated sorority parties in the early twenty-tens by mashing up artists from all types of genres: Electric Light Orchestra, Lil’ Kim, Simon & Garfunkel. Jay Caspian Kang, The New Yorker, 13 Sep. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'titillate.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Latin titillatus, past participle of titillare

First Known Use

1620, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of titillate was in 1620

Dictionary Entries Near titillate

Cite this Entry

“Titillate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/titillate. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

titillate

verb
tit·​il·​late ˈtit-ᵊl-ˌāt How to pronounce titillate (audio)
titillated; titillating
1
2
: to excite pleasurably
titillation noun

More from Merriam-Webster on titillate

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