chaffed

verb

past tense of chaff
1
as in teased
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

Relevance
2
as in joked
to make jokes a coworker who likes to chaff at others' expense, and this often results in hurt feelings

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of chaffed And those advertisers that once chaffed at TV-MA content have been more willing to embrace racy fare in order to appeal to younger viewers who aren’t concerned with a few F-bombs or raw images. — Michael Schneider, Variety, 10 Nov. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for chaffed
  1. teased
  2. joked
  3. kidded
Verb
  • Speaking with investor Ron Baron at the 33rd Annual Baron Investment Conference in New York, Musk teased more details about the project.
    — Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 6 Nov. 2026
  • Fraser also teased further projects for 2027, including potential collaborations outside traditional artist features.
    — Jessica Lynch, Billboard, 3 Nov. 2026
Definition of teased
Verb
  • Erika Ellis described their romance as chaotic, while Morrey Eglin, who considers Rob his best friend, joked that the conversation felt like attending his funeral.
    — Deirdre Durkan, PEOPLE, 9 Nov. 2026
  • Żydowicz took the stage a few moments later and joked that none of us are immune to the threat of AI and robots coming for our jobs.
    — Christian Zilko, IndieWire, 9 Nov. 2026
Definition of joked
Verb
  • Naturally, Kelly gets kidded about that as well.
    — Marc Topkin, The Orlando Sentinel, 20 June 2026
  • When Curt Cignetti was hired just more than two years ago, it was considered a smart move by the athletic department, but no one kidded themselves that Indiana was some sort of raucous fan sleeper cell just waiting to be activated.
    — Will Leitch, New York Times, 13 Jan. 2026
Definition of kidded

Browse Nearby Words

chaff
chaffed
chaffer
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Chaffed.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/chaffed. Accessed 13 Nov. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of impertinent

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

31 Useful Rhetorical Devices

More Commonly Misspelled Words

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Great Big List of Beautiful and Useless Words, Vol. 5

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

The Longest Long Words List

The Words of the Week - Nov. 13

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)
See More

Popular

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Great Big List of Beautiful and Useless Words, Vol. 5

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
speech-bubble-untangle
Simplify The Convoluted Expression Quiz A quiz that’s as “uncomplicated as a round de...
See All