tick

Fetched 2026-10-28 (live).

Datamuse reports no synonyms or antonyms for this word.

Noun

1. A tiny woodland arachnid of the suborder Ixodida.

Noun

1. A relatively quiet but sharp sound generally made repeatedly by moving machinery.
   • The steady tick of the clock provided a comforting background for the conversation.
2. A mark on any scale of measurement; a unit of measurement.
   • At midday, the long bond is up a tick.
3. A short period of time, particularly a second.
   • I'll be back in a tick.
4. A jiffy (unit of time defined by basic timer frequency).
5. A periodic increment of damage or healing caused by an ongoing status effect.
6. Each of the fixed time periods, in a tick-based game, in which players or characters may perform a set number of actions.
7. A mark (✓) made to indicate agreement, correctness, or acknowledgement.
   • Indicate that you are willing to receive marketing material by putting a tick in the box
8. A bird seen (or heard) by a birdwatcher, for the first time that day, year, trip, etc., and thus added to a list of observed birds.
9. A whinchat (Saxicola rubetra).
10. A tap or light touch.
11. A slight speck.

Verb

1. To make a clicking noise similar to the movement of the hands of an analog clock.
2. To make a tick or checkmark.
3. To work or operate, especially mechanically.
   • He took the computer apart to see how it ticked.
   • I wonder what makes her tick.
4. To strike gently; to pat.
5. To add (a bird) to a list of birds that have been seen (or heard).

Noun

1. Ticking.
2. A sheet that wraps around a mattress; the cover of a mattress, containing the filling.

Noun

1. Credit, trust.

Verb

1. (Can we verify this sense?)To go on trust, or credit.
2. (Can we verify this sense?)To give tick; to trust.

Noun

1. A goat.
   • Tickhill, Tickham, Ticknock, Tickenhall Drive, Tickenhill Manor, Tickenhurst

Source: Wiktionary · CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wiktionary) · cached copy, not a rewrite.