tongue-tied

adjective

Definition of tongue-tiednext
as in mute
unable to speak because you are nervous or shy She became tongue-tied whenever he was around. He gets tongue-tied in front of crowds.

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Examples Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for tongue-tied
  1. mute
  2. speechless
  3. incomprehensible
  4. inarticulate
  5. incoherent
  6. silent
Adjective
  • Please check back again soon for the recorded video. LIVE VIDEO TO BEGIN AFTER AD Loaded: 0% Progress: 0% Use up and down arrows to change volume, and spacebar or enter to toggle mute.
    Ben Dowsett, WIRED, 3 Dec. 2024
  • Owned by German transplant Bert Kirchner, the bar is named after a man in Dominica who fascinated Kirchner with his ability to dance to Zouk music despite being deaf and mute.
    Mariette Williams, Condé Nast Traveler, 13 Nov. 2024
Definition of mute
Adjective
  • In helicopter video taken by Air Maui Helicopter Tours in Lahaina and posted online the people aboard are largely speechless.
    Phil Helsel, NBC News, 10 Aug. 2023
  • Because his work, as is often the case, leaves us almost speechless.
    Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 10 Jan. 2023
Definition of speechless
Adjective
  • Yet the sheer volume of healthcare data is nearly incomprehensible.
    Premier Contributor, Forbes, 11 Dec. 2024
  • Disney first unveiled their new CGI design for Stitch at their D23 convention back in August, but Stitch's personality is all in his chaotic movements and incomprehensible alien sounds.
    Christian Holub, EW.com, 25 Nov. 2024
Definition of incomprehensible
Adjective
  • In its least manageable moments, early motherhood must feel like an unpaid job with no breaks, an inarticulate boss and working conditions designed to strip all that’s civil from one’s sense of self.
    Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times, 6 Dec. 2024
  • An inarticulate protagonist—a protagonist who isn’t much given to verbally analyzing his own experience—seemed to provide an opportunity to approach things another way, indirectly or suggestively.
    Dennis Zhou, The New Yorker, 1 Dec. 2024
Definition of inarticulate
Adjective
  • Excited delirium deaths in South Florida and across the country share commonalities: a sweating, agitated, incoherent man detached from reality — often high on cocaine or synthetic drugs — is restrained, sometimes aggressively, by police.
    Shira Moolten, Sun Sentinel, 13 Dec. 2024
  • The audience follows her perspective across history to show that all of those seemingly incoherent mumblings sprinkled throughout the previous episodes can be strung together to form crucial clues about what comes later in the season.
    EW Staff, EW.com, 5 Dec. 2024
Definition of incoherent
Adjective
  • The Kremlin remained silent on Assad’s whereabouts Monday, refusing to comment publicly on Russia’s decision to grant him asylum.
    Sophie Tanno, CNN, 9 Dec. 2024
  • Importantly, this decision did not remove all agency deference just deference where the statute is either silent or ambiguous.
    Joshua D. Smeltzer, Forbes, 9 Dec. 2024
Definition of silent
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Thesaurus Entries Near tongue-tied

tongues

tongue-tied

tonic

See More Nearby Entries 

Cite this Entry

“Tongue-tied.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tongue-tied. Accessed 22 Dec. 2024.

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