teaser

play

noun teas·er \ ˈtē-zər \

Updated on: 26 Jul 2017

Definition of teaser

1 :one that teases

2 :an advertising or promotional device intended to arouse interest or curiosity especially in something to follow

See teaser defined for English-language learners

Examples of teaser in a Sentence

A teaser for the sequel appeared at the end of the movie.
credit cards offering teaser rates to get people to sign up

Recent Examples of teaser from the Web

Earlier this summer, Netflix released a brief teaser trailer for the project, featuring Devine with his Workaholics cohorts Anders Holm and Blake Anderson.

— mike scott, NOLA.com, "Adam Devine's 'Game Over, Man!,' files with Louisiana film office," 28 Aug. 2017
The first teaser trailer for the upcoming spinoff The Punisher, hidden after the credits of the final episode of The Defenders, hints at Marvel’s grimmest series yet—a bloodthirsty, noirish world of crime and … well, punishment.

— sophie gilbert, The Atlantic, "The Defenders Proves Heroes Aren't Enough," 24 Aug. 2017
The teaser also catches us up on Prince Philip (Matt Smith), who spent the last season bristling against the restrictions of royalty, acclimating to life as the first man of the monarchy.

— yohana desta, vanityfair.com, "The Crown: Queen Elizabeth Feels Pressure on All Sides in Gorgeous New Teaser," 10 Aug. 2017
Seeing Lynch in action in the teaser is just as disturbing as the hype anticipated.

— nikki delamotte, cleveland.com, "Creepy new 'My Friend Dahmer' trailer, Cleveland's Derf in spotlight at Comic-Con," 24 July 2017
On Saturday night, the studio released teaser posters on social media.

— CBS News, "Disney announces picks for Aladdin, Jasmine and Genie in live-action remake," 15 July 2017
Though no trailer debuted, the new footage is the first since the film's teaser trailer debuted at April's Star Wars Celebration.

— aaron couch, The Hollywood Reporter, "'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' — Rian Johnson Shows Off Behind-the-Scenes Footage," 15 July 2017
In addition to the creepy teaser, Netflix also dropped an equally-creepy new poster for Season 2, complete with the release date of course: One of the biggest tidbits Netflix has shared about Season 2 is the names of the nine episodes.

— kayleigh roberts, Marie Claire, "Everything You Need to Know About 'Stranger Things' Season 2: Release Date, Cast, Filming, and Fan Theories," 11 July 2017
TRAILER OF THE DAY VF.com’s Hillary Busis e-mails: There isn’t much plot in the first teaser for The Deuce, HBO’s upcoming period series about how the porn industry took New York by storm—

— vanityfair.com, "Third Time’s a Charm for Spider-Man," 10 July 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'teaser.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

First Known Use of teaser

14th century

teaser Synonyms

Financial Definition of TEASER

teaser

noun

What It Is

A teaser is a document that advertises the potential future sale of a security.

How It Works

The teaser's job is to create demand for a security. Because it is not a prospectus, it does not usually have all the details about the offering; rather, it highlights the most positive aspects of the offering and entices readers to subscribe to the offering later.

To get an idea of the role of the teaser, let’s assume Company XYZ is pursuing an IPO. Before launching the IPO, Company XYZ must see if big institutional investors (or anybody else) want to buy the stock. They create a teaser document, which the investment bank provides to interested parties. Unlike a prospectus, which contains exhaustive detail about the offering, the prospectus is more of an advertising and promotional vehicle.

When the final prospectus is released, the investment bank can take orders from those clients who indicated an interest back when they saw the teaser.

Why It Matters

The role of the teaser is to make investors aware of the investment rather than the risks of the investment. At that stage, investors would essentially consider the investment "sight unseen." Only after the company issues a prospectus is it protected from claims that it did not fully disclose enough information about itself or the securities in question.

Source: Investing Answers

TEASER Defined for English Language Learners

teaser

play

noun

Definition of teaser for English Language Learners

: a person who teases other people
: something that is done, offered, or shown to make people want something or want to see something that will be offered or shown at a later time
: a difficult problem or puzzle