Word.ws English Dictionary

tickling

tickling is the present participle and gerund of tickle.

Noun

tickling (plural ticklings)

  1. A sensation that tickles.
    • ticklings and muscular aches
  2. The act by which someone is tickled.
    • It is quite true that the yells and shrieks, the bonnetings and ticklings, the hat throwing and fighting, give way for the instant to an intense desire to behold the sight, and the immense concourse was momentarily hushed in the depth of its excitement […]1998, Victorian Periodicals Review, volume 31, page 290

Meaning of tickle

Verb

tickle (third-person singular simple present tickles, present participle tickling, simple past and past participle tickled)

  1. (transitive) To touch repeatedly or stroke delicately in a manner which typically causes laughter, pleasure and twitching.
    • He tickled Nancy's tummy, and she started to giggle.
  2. (intransitive) To feel as if the body part in question is being tickled.
    • My nose tickles, and I'm going to sneeze!
  3. (transitive) To appeal to someone's taste, curiosity etc.
  4. (transitive) To cause delight or amusement in.
    • He was tickled to receive such a wonderful gift.
  5. (intransitive) To feel titillation.
    • He with secret joy therefore
      Did tickle inwardly in every vein.1591, Ed[mund] Sp[enser], “Muiopotmos, or The Fate of the Butterflie”, in Complaints. Containing Sundrie Small Poemes of the Worlds Vanitie. […], London: […] William Ponsonbie, […], →OCLC
  6. (transitive) To catch fish in the hand (usually in rivers or smaller streams) by manually stimulating the fins.

See all 14 meanings of tickle

Adjective

tickling

  1. That tickles
    • a tickling sensation

Forms of tickling

pluralticklings

Words formed from tickling

Phrases with tickling

Questions about tickling

What does tickling mean?
Tickling means that tickles.
What is tickling the present participle and gerund of?
Tickling is the present participle and gerund of tickle.
What part of speech is tickling?
Tickling can be an adjective or a noun.

Words near tickling in the dictionary

  1. ticklest
  2. tickleth
  3. ticklier
  4. tickliest
  5. tickliness
  6. tickling
  7. tickling pink
  8. tickling someone's fancy
  9. tickling someone's funny bone
  10. tickling someone's pickle
  11. tickling the dragon's tail

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: tickling (page history and authors); tickle (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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Cite this entry: “tickling.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/tickling. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.