bite one's tongue
bite one's tongue verb: to resist the urge to speak out, especially in order to avoid saying something inappropriate or likely to cause a dispute.
Verb
bite one's tongue (third-person singular simple present bites one's tongue, present participle biting one's tongue, simple past bit one's tongue, past participle bitten one's tongue)
- To resist the urge to speak out, especially in order to avoid saying something inappropriate or likely to cause a dispute.
- She wanted to go see a movie called Gigi, which I was not too thrilled about. But being a gentleman, I bit my tongue and said, “Okay.”2011, Mike Pappas, Growing Up the Greek Way in the Big Apple, page 103
- I used to bite my tongue and hold my breath / Scared to rock the boat and make a mess.2013, Katy Perry, Roar
- Synonyms:
- bite one's lip
Synonyms of bite one's tongue
Forms of bite one's tongue
| third-person singular present | bites one's tongue |
|---|---|
| present participle | biting one's tongue |
| past | bit one's tongue |
| past participle | bitten one's tongue |
Questions about bite one's tongue
- What does bite one's tongue mean?
- Bite one's tongue means to resist the urge to speak out, especially in order to avoid saying something inappropriate or likely to cause a dispute.
- What part of speech is bite one's tongue?
- Bite one's tongue is a verb.
- What is the past tense of bite one's tongue?
- The past tense of bite one's tongue is bit one's tongue.
Words near bite one's tongue in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: bite one's tongue (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-bite one's tongue.ogg.
Cite this entry: “bite one's tongue.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bite_one%27s_tongue. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.