taunts 1 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of taunt
as in teases
to attack repeatedly with mean put-downs or insults the principal reminded the student athletes that taunting their opponents was not showing good sportsmanship

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

taunts

2 of 2

noun

plural of taunt
as in jeers

Related Words

Dissimilar 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 taunts
Verb
In the final episode of the season, Max taunts Pip on her way to Stanley’s funeral as his companion, a young blonde, laughs and drinks wine. — Nicole Briese, PEOPLE, 28 May 2026 Newsom taunts Trump with multiple jabs as Florida redistricting fight ramps up. — FOXNews.com, 28 Apr. 2026 Owen is a serial killer who, much like Zodiac, taunts the police with phone calls threatening the murder of innocent citizens. — Rosy Cordero, Deadline, 14 Apr. 2026 So much for Anthropic's Super Bowl taunts. — Alexei Oreskovic, Fortune, 10 Feb. 2026 More than an hour into the film, during a scene in which Buffalo Bill taunts the captive Catherine Martin—a moment that features both characters screaming directly into the camera—Mary got up and headed to the lobby. — Brian Raftery, Longreads, 29 Jan. 2026 In a 30-second clip, Adams is seen leaving a jet bridge while a woman who is walking ahead of him seemingly taunts Adams. — Marley Malenfant, Austin American Statesman, 15 Jan. 2026 The two come face-to-face at the end of the episode, during which Callahan taunts Kyle over his wife's murder. — Allison Degrushe, Entertainment Weekly, 29 Dec. 2025 Instead, Pennywise taunts Ingrid before showing her the deadlights and leaving her (mostly) catatonic. — Louis Peitzman, Vulture, 8 Dec. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for taunts
  1. teases
  2. jeers
  3. mocks
  4. insults
  5. catcalls
  6. quips
  7. outrages
  8. affronts
Verb
  • The featurette teases Zada as Haymitch, with scenes ranging from the literal sunrise on his Reaping Day to Capitol interviews to the Games itself.
    — Mya Copeland, Variety, 4 July 2026
  • Season 28 will be a treat for longtime viewers, Chen Moonves teases, as the time trip theme means competitions are inspired by iconic moments from history and from Big Brother history, with time-bending twists that will directly impact the game.
    — Rachel DeSantis, PEOPLE, 1 July 2026
Definition of teases
Noun
  • The jeers grew louder Friday and Saturday as Machado piled up four strikeouts amid two hitless nights.
    — Tom Krasovic, San Diego Union-Tribune, 6 July 2026
  • Clark's jeers came at Shinnecock Hills in the Hamptons, roughly 60 miles away from Bethpage Black, where fans became the subject of controversy during the Ryder Cup.
    — Ryan Morik, FOXNews.com, 30 June 2026
Definition of jeers
Verb
  • The Los Angeles Dodgers insulted their Catholic paying customers by honoring a drag group that parades around as nuns and mocks their religion.
    — Ian Miller OutKick, FOXNews.com, 2 July 2026
  • One of the moments in the musical that caused the most laughter and claps from the audience was the final song, which mocks the idea of using violence as a form of protest rather than joining a movement or focusing on policy.
    — Lorena O’Neil, Rolling Stone, 20 June 2026
Definition of mocks
Noun
  • Musk and Altman have repeatedly traded blows in recent years, mocking each other’s businesses and lobbing personal insults.
    — Antonio Pequeño IV, Forbes.com, 11 July 2026
  • The insults often accompany reports and even videos of kids and teens engaging in reckless riding — weaving through traffic, running stop signs, ignoring pedestrians, and performing stunts like wheelies in opposing lanes, sometimes without helmets.
    — Théoden Janes, Charlotte Observer, 7 July 2026
Definition of insults
Noun
  • Especially women, with all those drunken servicemen rolling through, packs of them, fights spilling out of the cafés, catcalls and spitting in the streets.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 3 June 2026
  • For Dua, puberty and social maturity become knotted up in unpredictable notions of bodily harm (whether acted upon, or merely threatened), as Serbian boys and men harass her on the way home from school, lacing their catcalls with ethnic slurs.
    — Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 13 May 2026
Definition of catcalls
Noun
  • But the fan favorite still managed to provide one of the week's more memorable quips.
    — Mike Dojc, Forbes.com, 10 July 2026
  • These mostly harmless quips resemble the type of pettiness that once ran roughshod across the Lone Star State, back when eight Texas programs were members of the Southwest Conference.
    — Sam Khan Jr, New York Times, 1 July 2026
Definition of quips
Noun
  • Look, of the outrages, these are like the least among them, as far as being upset with the administration, with the president.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 14 June 2026
  • More recently, Tandy Hills experienced issues with ATVs being driven through the park and damaging wildflowers, sparking outrages on social media from people who demanded the city take action.
    — Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 25 Mar. 2026
Definition of outrages
Noun
  • These things are murders and affronts to the dignity of human life.
    — Chris Stirewalt, The Hill, 28 Apr. 2026
  • Any tension between them, though, stems from personal affronts, while their ideological differences exist as a largely unremarked upon undercurrent.
    — Ben Travers, IndieWire, 25 Mar. 2026
Definition of affronts

Browse Nearby Words

taunting
taunts
taut
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Taunts.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/taunts. Accessed 15 Jul. 2026.

Copy Citation

More from Merriam-Webster on taunts

Nglish: Translation of taunts for Spanish Speakers

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

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

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

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

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Commonly Misspelled Words
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat

The Longest Long Words List

Ten Words Ending with a Silent ‘T’

The Words of the Week - Jul 10
See More

Popular

See More

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

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat
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
banana-mirrored
Contradictory Words Quiz Pick out which word means one thing…and the opp...
See All