Basic+ Word of the Day: tickle

tickle (verb) past tense: tickled

Tickle means ‘to touch lightly with the fingers or a feather to cause a tingling sensation.’

• It tickles Sandy's feet when she gets a pedicure.
• When Grandpa kisses Becca, his mustache tickles her.

Tickle also means ‘to poke a sensitive part of the body to cause laughter.’

• The dad hugs his daughter and tickles her when he gets home from work.

Common uses

tickled pink: greatly pleased. Example: “Jill was tickled pink that her friends remembered her birthday.”

tickle someone’s fancy: to appeal to someone. Example: “That joke just tickled my fancy.”

Related words

ticklish: sensitive to tickling. Example: “The little girl is ticklish, so be careful when you wash her feet.”

In pop culture

Tickle Me is a 1965 movie about Elvis and some beautiful guests at a dude ranch (a ranch for tourists). At the end of this trailer they say, “Gags (jokes) that’ll tickle you, gals that’ll tickle you, hit tunes that’ll tickle you.”

There are other meanings of tickle.