Word.ws English Dictionary

tousle

/ˈtaʊ.zəl/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

also/ˈtaʊ.səl/

tousle verb: to put into disorder; to tumble; to touse; to muss.

Verb

tousle (third-person singular simple present tousles, present participle tousling, simple past and past participle tousled)

  1. To put into disorder; to tumble; to touse; to muss.

Noun

tousle (plural tousles)

  1. The action of ruffling or setting in disorder.
    • Cassie reached over and gave Sammy's dark hair a tousle.2015, Carla Cassidy, A Real Cowboy, page 264

tousle meaning in Tamil and Kannada

tousle in Tamil

கலை, சிலுப்பு, சீர் குலை, அலங்கோலமாக்கு, ஒழுங்கற்றதாக்கு, முரட்டுத்தனமாக நடத்து

tousle in Kannada

ಕೂದಲನ್ನು ಕೆದರು, ಜುಟ್ಟನ್ನು ಹಿಡಿದೆಳೆ, ಎಳೆದಾಡು, ಅವಮಾನಿಸು

Forms of tousle

Verb
third-person singular presenttousles
present participletousling
past participletousled
pasttousled
alternative formtouzle
alternative formtoozle
alternative formtowsle
alternative formtowzle
alternative formtussle
alternative formtossle
Noun
pluraltousles

Origin of tousle

From Middle English touselen, equivalent to touse + -le. Cognate with German Low German tuseln, Bavarian zusseln, züsseln.

Words formed from tousle

Words that rhyme with tousle

Questions about tousle

What does tousle mean?
Tousle means to put into disorder; to tumble; to touse; to muss.
What is tousle in Tamil?
Tousle in Tamil is கலை, சிலுப்பு, சீர் குலை. See Tousle meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is tousle?
Tousle can be a verb or a noun.
How do you pronounce tousle?
Tousle is pronounced /ˈtaʊ.zəl/.
What is the past tense of tousle?
The past tense of tousle is tousled.

Words near tousle in the dictionary

  1. tousers
  2. touses
  3. Tousignant
  4. Tousignants
  5. tousing
  6. tousle
  7. tousle-haired
  8. tousle-headed
  9. tousled
  10. touslement
  11. tousler

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: tousle (page history and authors); tousle (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); tousle (Kannada Wiktionary) (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-tousle.wav.

Cite this entry: “tousle.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/tousle. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.