as in joking
marked by or expressive of mild or good-natured teasing
a chaffing tone to Dad's discussion of my sister's new boyfriend
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
1
as in teasing
to make fun of in a good-natured way
chaffed her about the brightly colored shirt she had received as a gift
Synonyms & Similar Words
2
as in funning
to make jokes
a coworker who likes to chaff at others' expense, and this often results in hurt feelings
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of chaffing
Tim Chan, Footwear News, 18 Feb. 2026
Water repellent fabrics will keep you dry to prevent chilling and chaffing.
—James Edward Mills, Condé Nast Traveler, 30 Aug. 2024
Verb
The Mulberry silk blend material, meantime, is soft and gentle against the skin, reducing fine lines caused by frequent rubbing or chaffing.
—Tim Chan, Footwear News, 18 Feb. 2026
Water repellent fabrics will keep you dry to prevent chilling and chaffing.
—James Edward Mills, Condé Nast Traveler, 30 Aug. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for chaffing
Adjective
-
Cotton-cashmere ribbing blends softness and structure for a lightweight tank that always looks as intended.—
Paris Wilson,
Travel + Leisure,
1 June 2026
-
The Bay Area and Silicon Valley has always been ripe for both some ribbing and some potent storytelling on the big and small screen, due to its colorful history and its current role as capitol of the American technological zeitgeist.—
Randy Myers,
Mercury News,
7 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
The pop singer has been teasing her return to music over the past few weeks with cryptic posts on social media featuring various images accompanied locations, dates and times.—
Steven J. Horowitz,
Variety,
22 June 2026
-
Eric Schmidt, the former CEO of Google, took over as chief executive of Relativity a little more than a year ago, teasing new areas of focus such as orbital data centers, philanthropic space science ventures, and national security missions.—
Stephen Clark,
ArsTechnica,
19 June 2026
Verb
-
The post also included a video of Ron sitting at a dinner table joking about salmon.—
Angelique Brenes,
PEOPLE,
11 June 2026
-
While Diana was clearly joking in her letters with Stamp, the former Princess of Wales was famously open about her mental health—which has had a trickle-down effect of her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, being open about theirs.—
Rachel Burchfield,
InStyle,
9 June 2026
Adjective
-
To get a sense of his whole deal, look no further than the half-mocking, half-earnest title of his latest album, Country!—
Jonathan Bernstein,
Rolling Stone,
23 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
Just kidding, but seeing Angela’s team sweep Shamea’s at the Bailey Bowl basketball tournament was almost as satisfying as knowing Charles got to witness his former team’s historic win in person.—
Ile-Ife Okantah,
Vulture,
22 June 2026
-
Room was kidding, but someone inside Arrowhead Stadium on Saturday night had the power to make that happen.—
Pete Grathoff
June 21,
Kansas City Star,
21 June 2026
Adjective
-
There were the polite claps after good attacks by the Swiss, sarcastic whistles by the Qatari fans after their team again failed to mount a threat.—
Joseph Dycus,
Mercury News,
13 June 2026
-
When the 10th batter (Dalton Rushing) struck out for the first out of the inning, the diminished number of Pirates fans still on hand gave a sarcastic cheer for their team’s stick-to-itiveness.—
Bill Plunkett,
Oc Register,
10 June 2026
Adjective
-
And, unlike most other countries in wartime that have been attacked, there was no rallying effect for the government after October 7th.—
Isaac Chotiner,
New Yorker,
15 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
By widening the lens, Clark is able to redirect the book’s gaze from the mother toward a quizzical, sometimes critical, but not unaffectionate portrait of two generations of political activism, with the attendant self-involvement and domestic negligence.—
James Wood,
New Yorker,
4 May 2026
-
Carpenter responded with a quizzical frown.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
13 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Chaffing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/chaffing. Accessed 24 Jun. 2026.
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