How to use heckle in a sentence

13 example sentences · verb, noun

Heckle means to question harshly in an attempt to find or reveal weaknesses. Example: “Promise that you won't heckle me after my performance.”

Examples of heckle by meaning

verbTo insult, tease, make fun of or badger, especially during a comedy performance.

Promise that you won't heckle me after my performance.
As late as 1854, the antichoir members of an Ohio Methodist congregation heckled the choir whenever it tried to sing, hoping to "bring discredit on the singers by creating discord."2008, BYU Studies, volume 47, page 108
It is the large brown bonxies that heckle me as I pass across the high moor and approach the sheep gate.2020, Tim Ecott, The Land of Maybe, Short Books, published 2021, page 102

nounAn rude interruption during a show, especially a comedy performance.

The stand-up dealt well with the heckles from the crowd, replying with raucous banter to raise plenty of laughs.

More sentences with heckle

The speaker was heckled and shouted down.From the entry down
Each bay has lounge-type furniture or high-top tables where groups can cheer – or heckle – the other Players.2024 December 2, “Topgolf To Open One of Its Largest Venues Yet in Burlingame On Dec. 13”, in Topgolf, archived from the original on 09…. From the entry Burlingame
Some people stopped concentrating on the piece altogether, some started barracking and heckling, while others began chatting to one another.2006, Ramsay Burt, Judson Dance Theater: Performative traces, page 192. From the entry barrack
Colin Montgomerie has been a heckling target of U.S. crowds for years, infamous as he was for having the proverbial rabbit ears.2014 September 28, John Strege, “Colin Montgomerie on Patrick Reed: 'America needed 12 of these guys'”, in GolfDigest. From the entry rabbit ears
In short, ‘Put up or shut up’, which, of course, only encouraged Johnny and One-armed Lou to heckle the Arsenal board even more.2009, Jimmy Greaves, The Heart of the Game, unnumbered page. From the entry barrack
It was unbelievable that the English, having degenerated to the stage where suffragettes heckled the Prime Minister and defied the police, were going to fight.1962, Barbara Wertheim Tuchman, The Guns of August, page 154. From the entry perfidy
Health secretary Matt Hancock was booed and heckled at a general election hustings in his constituency after he launched an attack on Jeremy Corbyn over his handling of antisemitism.2019 November 30, Eleanor Busby, “Matt Hancock booed and heckled by crowd as hustings descends into chaos”, in The Independent. From the entry hustings
Outside the Convention Center, meanwhile, protesters on either side of police barricades waved signs, chanted, sang songs and heckled people walking inside to attend the fundraiser.1982 April 24, Claude Peck, “Demo Greets Falwell During Visit to Minneapolis”, in Gay Community News, page 3. From the entry drink the Kool-Aid
For one terrifying moment, she felt nothing beneath her feet; empty space whirling round and past her, the slang and heckle of the wind outshrilling her own shriek of fear.2012, Wendy Perriam, The Stillness The Dancing. From the entry outshrill

Meaning of heckle

verb To question harshly in an attempt to find or reveal weaknesses.
verb To insult, tease, make fun of or badger, especially during a comedy performance.
verb To prepare (flax) for spinning, using special combs called hackles.

Full definition of heckle

Questions about heckle in a sentence

How do you use heckle in a sentence?: Heckle is used as a verb and noun. For example: “Promise that you won't heckle me after my performance.”
What is a short sentence with heckle?: “The speaker was heckled and shouted down.”
What does heckle mean?: Heckle means to question harshly in an attempt to find or reveal weaknesses.

Adapted from Wiktionary: heckle (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use heckle in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/heckle. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.