Definition of 'tic'
Word forms: plural tics
countable noun
If someone has a tic, a part of their face or body keeps making a small uncontrollable movement, for example because they are tired or have a nervous illness.
COBUILD Advanced English Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
Word Frequency
tic in American English
noun
1.
any involuntary, regularly repeated, spasmodic contraction of a muscle, generally of neurotic origin
Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 4th Edition. Copyright © 2010 by
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.
Word origin
Fr < ?
Word Frequency
tic in American English
(tɪk)
noun
Most material © 2005, 1997, 1991 by Penguin Random House LLC. Modified entries © 2019
by Penguin Random House LLC and HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Word origin
[1790–1800; ‹ F (of expressive orig.)]Word Frequency
-tic in American English
suffix
a suffix, equivalent in meaning to -ic, occurring in adjectives of Greek origin ( analytic), used esp. in the formation of adjectives from nouns with stems in -sis
hematotic
neurotic
Most material © 2005, 1997, 1991 by Penguin Random House LLC. Modified entries © 2019
by Penguin Random House LLC and HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Word origin
[‹ Gk -tikos, extracted from adjs. derived with -ikos -ic from agent nouns ending in -tēs; cf. hieratic]Examples of 'tic' in a sentence
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Definition of tic from the Collins English Dictionary
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