as in trick
an odd or peculiar habit
constantly playing with her hair is one of her more annoying tics
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of tic
The Trumpian superlative tic took his boasts well beyond the general.
—
Dan Alexander, Forbes.com, 18 May 2026
Eilish shares reaction to her tics Eilish was diagnosed with Tourette syndrome at age 11.
—Taylor Ardrey, USA Today, 6 May 2026
Y’know, that certain vocal style or guitar tone or even decade-specific production tic that transports us like the meal at the end of Ratatouille to joyous remembrances of times past.
—Brendan Hay, SPIN, 1 May 2026
In another incident drawn from Davidson’s real life, he’s brutally beaten by men with iron bars after one of his tics leads to an inadvertent comment made to a young woman.
—Barry Levitt, Time, 28 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for tic
Dan Alexander, Forbes.com, 18 May 2026
Eilish shares reaction to her tics Eilish was diagnosed with Tourette syndrome at age 11.
—Taylor Ardrey, USA Today, 6 May 2026
Y’know, that certain vocal style or guitar tone or even decade-specific production tic that transports us like the meal at the end of Ratatouille to joyous remembrances of times past.
—Brendan Hay, SPIN, 1 May 2026
In another incident drawn from Davidson’s real life, he’s brutally beaten by men with iron bars after one of his tics leads to an inadvertent comment made to a young woman.
—Barry Levitt, Time, 28 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for tic
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tic
Noun
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Artists and couturiers are fond of the whimsy of trompe l’oeil, the trick of the eye, the illusion of reality.—
Patt Morrison,
Los Angeles Times,
20 June 2026
-
Cohesion is the trick, and color does most of the work.—
Ryan Brennan,
Charlotte Observer,
19 June 2026
Noun
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By nature of Darwinism, insects resistant to certain controls often breed and multiply in a garden, passing on that resistance as a genetic trait.—
Anthony Reardon,
Kansas City Star,
20 June 2026
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Charles Darwin also proposed that intersexual selection involved females evaluating and choosing males with whom to mate based on specific traits, such as a colorful peacock plumage.—
Rachel Brodsky,
Rolling Stone,
20 June 2026
Noun
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Those characteristics could make the biochar useful beyond fuel applications.—
Aamir Khollam,
Interesting Engineering,
19 June 2026
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Though every case is unique, based on those that the NCMEC has tracked, there are some common characteristics among individuals who carry out fetal abductions, Steinbach says.—
Elizabeth Yuko,
Rolling Stone,
18 June 2026
Noun
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Instead, Nowell roots the band’s sound in the mid-’90s and keeps his vocal mannerisms as close to Bradley’s as possible.—
Sadie Sartini Garner,
Pitchfork,
15 June 2026
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His behavior, his voice, his accent, his physical mannerisms, everything was so particular to him, but also to New York at a certain time, and in a certain kind of crowd.—
Clayton Davis,
Variety,
14 June 2026
Noun
-
What’s to come The goal is to preserve all the building’s quirks, even if they can’t be explained.—
Mark Price
Updated June 22,
Charlotte Observer,
22 June 2026
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In a quirk of legislative drafting, SIJ had been classified as a type of employment visa and capped at around ten thousand per year.—
E. Tammy Kim,
New Yorker,
20 June 2026
Noun
-
Anta Claus is spilling over with character flaws, idiosyncrasies, jealousy and frustration.—
John Hopewell,
Variety,
16 June 2026
-
There’s an intrinsic pleasure in seeing filmmakers grow both older and weirder, yielding to their personal idiosyncrasies and obsessions, taking wild chances in pursuit of their passions.—
Richard Brody,
New Yorker,
16 June 2026
Noun
-
The stylistic eccentricities have been dialed back, including the use of old Hollywood film clips to reflect the action and possibly the thoughts of its main character, a cinephile from space, who is both practicing and enacting the work of a private detective.—
Robert Lloyd,
Los Angeles Times,
19 June 2026
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Designers embraced audacious concepts, leading to iconic cars like the Corvette and Thunderbird, alongside numerous eccentricities.—
Peter Lyon,
Forbes.com,
18 June 2026
Noun
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Chiron moving into Taurus wants to reshape your habits.—
USA TODAY,
USA Today,
19 June 2026
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These small habits keep the closet lean with almost no effort.—
Ryan Brennan,
Charlotte Observer,
19 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Tic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tic. Accessed 25 Jun. 2026.
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