tongue-tied
UK/ˈtʌŋtaɪd/
tongue-tied adjective: having tongue-tie or ankyloglossia (“a congenital oral anomaly in which the lingual frenulum (a membrane connecting the underside of the tongue to the floor of the mouth) is unusually short and thick, decreasing mobility of the tongue and affecting eating, speech, etc.”). Also the simple past and past participle of tongue-tie.
Adjective
tongue-tied (comparative more tongue-tied, superlative most tongue-tied)
- Having tongue-tie or ankyloglossia (“a congenital oral anomaly in which the lingual frenulum (a membrane connecting the underside of the tongue to the floor of the mouth) is unusually short and thick, decreasing mobility of the tongue and affecting eating, speech, etc.”).
- Prevented from or unable to express oneself clearly or fluently, or freely; at a loss for words, speechless.
- But it ſeemes to mee that Dauid meeneth cheefly, that among the blaſphemies of his foes wherewith they endeuered too ouerwhelme hys Faythe, he himſelfe was not tungtyde: but rather lifted vp his voyce vnto God, whom the vngodly ſurmiſed to haue bin turned against him.1571, John Calvin, “[Commentary on Psalm 3:5]”, in Arthur Golding, transl., The Psalmes of Dauid and Others. With M. Iohn Caluin’s Commentaries, London: […] Thomas East and Henry Middelton; for Lucas...
- My toung-tide Muſe in manners holds her ſtill, / While comments of your praiſe richly compil'd, / Reſerue their Character with goulden quill, / And precious phraſe by all the Muſes fil'd.1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 85”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC
- Reluctant to speak up; reserved, reticent.
- I was all this while chafing at the part I played, and sitting tongue-tied between shame and merriment; but somehow at this I could hold in no longer, and bade Alan let me be, for I was better already.1886 May 1 – July 31, Robert Louis Stevenson, “End of the Flight: We Pass the Forth”, in Kidnapped, being Memoirs of the Adventures of David Balfour in the Year 1751: […], London; Paris: Cassell &...
- Tongue-tied or short of breath / Don't even try1983, “Too Shy”, in White Feathers, performed by Kajagoogoo
- Physically unable to speak; dumb, mute.
Also used as
tongue-tied is also the simple past and past participle of tongue-tie.
Forms of tongue-tied
| comparative | more tongue-tied |
|---|---|
| superlative | most tongue-tied |
Origin of tongue-tied
From tongue + tied (“restricted”, adjective).
Questions about tongue-tied
- What does tongue-tied mean?
- Tongue-tied means having tongue-tie or ankyloglossia (“a congenital oral anomaly in which the lingual frenulum (a membrane connecting the underside of the tongue to the floor of the mouth) is unusually short and thick, decreasing mobility of the tongue and affecting eating, speech, etc.”).
- What part of speech is tongue-tied?
- Tongue-tied is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce tongue-tied?
- Tongue-tied is pronounced /ˈtʌŋtaɪd/ (UK).
Words near tongue-tied in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: tongue-tied (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-tongue-tied.ogg, En-au-tongue-tied.ogg.
Cite this entry: “tongue-tied.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/tongue-tied. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.