tick off

verb

ticked off; ticking off; ticks off

transitive verb

1

: to make angry or indignant

the cancellation really ticked me off

2

: reprimand, rebuke

his father ticked him off for his impudence

Synonyms of tick off

• admonish
• reprimand
• get after
• blame
• scold
• get on
• criticize

Examples of tick off in a Sentence

she royally ticked the babysitter off for letting the child play outside unsupervised

it really ticks me off when someone says something like that

Recent Examples on the Web

The mild-mannered married dad of two young adult children ticks off a laundry list of advocacy and policy achievements, especially affordable housing, tenants and workers rights, racial justice and improving public schools, like the ones his kids attended in Park Slope. —Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News, 12 June 2026

But now all of those have been ticked off, there is still one big dream left in his football life. —Jack Pitt-Brooke, New York Times, 10 June 2026

Week after week, his digits splayed across his helmet in anguish after passes ticked off his hands and into the grass. —Luca Evans, Denver Post, 9 June 2026

Uber is out with its annual Lost & Found Index, ticking off the items riders leave behind on the car seat. —Robert Abitbol, USA Today, 6 June 2026

Word History

Etymology

tick entry 2

First Known Use

1915, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Rhymes for tick off

• ashraf
• checkoff
• cutoff
• falloff
• handoff
• kickoff
• layoff
• liftoff
• markoff
• markov
• payoff
• playoff