tic-tac-toe
noun
variants
or tick-tack-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
Examples of tic-tac-toe in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
As the Earliwoods unreeled their account of the helicopter-in-the-night, Chief Perkins made tic-tac-toe designs on a yellow pad.
—
Annie Proulx, New Yorker, 10 Aug. 2025
Get the kids involved in creating their snacks, use familiar foods for picky eaters, or make up a game like tic-tac-toe with crackers and cheese.
—Christina Montoya Fiedler, Parents, 4 Aug. 2025
The score wasn’t out of hand until Ekblad’s power-play goal ended a textbook, tic-tac-toe passing from Aleksander Barkov to Tkachuk to Reinhart, who made a blind pass to Ekblad.
—Dave Hyde, Sun Sentinel, 10 June 2025
Seth Jones scored into a wide-open net after some spectacular tic-tac-toe passing, and fellow defenseman Dmitry Kulikov tied it with a shot through traffic that Stuart Skinner almost certainly did not see.
—Stephen Whyno, Chicago Tribune, 7 June 2025
Even the entertainment feels enhanced, with artful game sets like polished tic-tac-toe, a luxury edition of Clue, and a sleek Connect Four that double as decor.
—Ashlee Marie Preston, Forbes.com, 29 Apr. 2025
Events will tentatively include games of dodgeball, tic-tac-toe, a relay race, punt/catch, move the mountain and quarterback accuracy.
—Kirk Kenney, San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 Apr. 2025
The arm can play a mediocre game of tic-tac-toe with you, using cups placed inside a 3x3 square of shelving.
—IEEE Spectrum, 3 May 2018
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Annie Proulx, New Yorker, 10 Aug. 2025
Get the kids involved in creating their snacks, use familiar foods for picky eaters, or make up a game like tic-tac-toe with crackers and cheese.
—Christina Montoya Fiedler, Parents, 4 Aug. 2025
The score wasn’t out of hand until Ekblad’s power-play goal ended a textbook, tic-tac-toe passing from Aleksander Barkov to Tkachuk to Reinhart, who made a blind pass to Ekblad.
—Dave Hyde, Sun Sentinel, 10 June 2025
Seth Jones scored into a wide-open net after some spectacular tic-tac-toe passing, and fellow defenseman Dmitry Kulikov tied it with a shot through traffic that Stuart Skinner almost certainly did not see.
—Stephen Whyno, Chicago Tribune, 7 June 2025
Even the entertainment feels enhanced, with artful game sets like polished tic-tac-toe, a luxury edition of Clue, and a sleek Connect Four that double as decor.
—Ashlee Marie Preston, Forbes.com, 29 Apr. 2025
Events will tentatively include games of dodgeball, tic-tac-toe, a relay race, punt/catch, move the mountain and quarterback accuracy.
—Kirk Kenney, San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 Apr. 2025
The arm can play a mediocre game of tic-tac-toe with you, using cups placed inside a 3x3 square of shelving.
—IEEE Spectrum, 3 May 2018
Cite this Entry
“Tic-tac-toe.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tic-tac-toe. Accessed 9 Sep. 2025.
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