as in mute
unable to speak because you are nervous or shy
She became tongue-tied whenever he was around. He gets tongue-tied in front of crowds.
Related Words
Relevance
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 tongue-tied
At times, Raman was tongue-tied trying to answer simple questions.
—
Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 7 May 2026
Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 7 May 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tongue-tied
Adjective
-
That strong start ended against the Rangers, as Cabrera (3-1) allowed five runs on seven hits over five innings in his worst outing of the season, and the Cubs offense was on mute.—
Paul Sullivan,
Chicago Tribune,
9 May 2026
-
Three recent preprint papers that arrived within weeks of one another probe the possibility that dark matter is not a mute backdrop but an active participant in cosmic physics.—
Paul M. Sutter,
Scientific American,
6 May 2026
Adjective
-
His friends, from brother Luigi (Charlie Day) to Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) veer in a similar direction, somehow coming across less fully formed and three-dimensional than their nearly speechless inspirations from Nintendo‘s flagship franchise.—
Wilson Chapman,
IndieWire,
31 Mar. 2026
-
In helicopter video taken by Air Maui Helicopter Tours in Lahaina and posted online the people aboard are largely speechless.—
Phil Helsel,
NBC News,
10 Aug. 2023
Adjective
-
Europeans, Bennett notes, find this genuinely incomprehensible.—
Nick Lichtenberg,
Fortune,
11 May 2026
-
Ashly's death is an incomprehensible tragedy.—
Julia Bonavita,
FOXNews.com,
6 May 2026
Adjective
-
Recent years have been boom times for language that is inarticulate on purpose.—
Megan Garber,
The Atlantic,
24 Feb. 2026
-
There are a few inarticulate screams and sobs but no dialogue, no lyrics, no spoken intro, no utterances at all.—
Christopher Arnott,
Hartford Courant,
11 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
For McQuoid, that appears to mean making a film devoid of color, shooting the incoherent fight sequences against murky backdrops, and treating the origin story of secondary protagonist Kitana (Adeline Rudolph) with the solemnity of a biblical reading.—
Alison Willmore,
Vulture,
6 May 2026
-
Under Henry, the Red Sox are incoherent, dysfunctional and forever poised to overreact.—
Ken Rosenthal,
New York Times,
26 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
The Dodgers’ offense remained mostly silent until the ninth inning, when Andy Pages hit a two-run home run to prevent a shutout.—
Steve Galluzzo,
Los Angeles Times,
10 May 2026
-
Each statue the perfect epitome of silent, mothering, virginal womanhood that Ireland had come to worship.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
8 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Tongue-tied.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tongue-tied. Accessed 13 May. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
