How to Use tic in a Sentence

tic

noun

• The verbal tic “you know” often occurs in her speech.
• If his tics could not be controlled, the sound of them could be.
  — Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 25 Feb. 2026
• Such tics may seem childish, but a lot of voters love this stuff.
  — Simon Shuster / Zurich, Time, 7 Mar. 2018
• The next tic-tac-toe passing play for a goal might be their first one this season.
  — Eric Stephens, Orange County Register, 18 Jan. 2017
• But often the metaphors seem something of a tic, and a tiresome one.
  — Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 10 Feb. 2025
• The tics, though less urgent, were still there Thursday night.
  — Christopher Clarey, New York Times, 21 Jan. 2016
• There were big boards on which to play pumpkin checkers and pumpkin tic tac toe.
  — 'sam' Boyer/special To Cleveland.com, cleveland.com, 15 Oct. 2017
• When my coprolalia tics came out, my stomach just dropped.
  — Clayton Davis, Variety, 24 Feb. 2026
• Like other tics, coprolalia can come and go over time.
  — Rena Zito, Fortune, 26 Feb. 2026
• The rhythms, the tics, the inflections are simply not the same.
  — Will Stephenson, Harper's Magazine, 16 Aug. 2023
• Coprolalia is only one form of taboo tic.
  — Rena Zito, Fortune, 26 Feb. 2026
• Half the users are avid Friends fans scared to finish the video and reveal the tic.
  — Carolyn Twersky, Seventeen, 23 Feb. 2021
• These lines are both nervous tics and statements of blithe confidence.
  — Phillip MacIak, New York Times, 21 Mar. 2024
• Most of all, my tics, while not gone completely, calmed down tremendously.
  — Glamour, 30 Apr. 2019
• One recurring tic is a rapid run of notes that gives way to a trill—a kind of scurry-and-shake gesture.
  — Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 21 Aug. 2019
• My tics are not an intention, not a choice and not a reflection of my values.
  — Clayton Davis, Variety, 24 Feb. 2026
• Obscenity is a tic that is always ready to ambush her thoughts.
  — Anne Enright, The New York Review of Books, 6 July 2020
• How many structural tricks and tics can the arch-postmodernist pack into such a hefty volume?
  — Emma Alpern, Vulture, 2 Dec. 2025
• The girl later said that the tic was a result of Groom yelling and throwing objects at her.
  — Gus Garcia-Roberts, Anchorage Daily News, 15 July 2023
• Odder still, Ahn has a too-clever tic of cutting away from big confrontations.
  — Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 17 Apr. 2025
• All three brothers have Tourette’s but none of them show any tics during the interview.
  — Kory Grow, Rolling Stone, 24 Oct. 2024
• The stakes are especially high when tics involve slurs or insults.
  — Rena Zito, Fortune, 26 Feb. 2026
• Now do the tic-tac-toe-and-delete thing to each of the eight remaining squares on every face of the cube, but smaller.
  — Adam Rogers, Wired, 4 Mar. 2020
• The fashion tics of punk—Doc Martens, pink and black and spikes and skulls—continues to sell.
  — Kevin Conley, Town & Country, 10 Oct. 2013
• Get some long twigs to fashion a tic-tac-toe board on the picnic table, and a tic-tac-toe contest should ensue.
  — Washington Post, 8 June 2019
• His tics are not naughty mischief, but an uncontrollable action.
  — Katie Walsh, Boston Herald, 24 Apr. 2026
• Martinů was something of a chameleon, despite his telltale tics.
  — Alex Ross, New Yorker, 8 Sep. 2025
• The pressure was so intense leading up to the flight that Collins developed tics in both eyes.
  — al.com, 20 July 2019
• Our eye is always steered away from what’s in front of us or trained to look for unusual tics or subtle responses.
  — Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 27 Mar. 2024
• Kids can doodle, scribble, draw, and play tic-tac-toe, hangman, or any number of drawing games with these tablets.
  — Sunset, 22 Jan. 2018