TAUNT

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does taunt mean? 

• TAUNT (noun)
  The noun TAUNT has 1 sense:

1. aggravation by deriding or mocking or criticizing

  Familiarity information: TAUNT used as a noun is very rare.

• TAUNT (verb)
  The verb TAUNT has 1 sense:

1. harass with persistent criticism or carping

  Familiarity information: TAUNT used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TAUNT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Aggravation by deriding or mocking or criticizing

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

taunt; taunting; twit

Hypernyms ("taunt" is a kind of...):

aggravation; irritation; provocation (unfriendly behavior that causes anger or resentment)

Derivation:

taunt (harass with persistent criticism or carping)

• TAUNT (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they taunt    ... he / she / it taunts   
Past simple: taunted   
Past participle: taunted   
-ing form: taunting   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Harass with persistent criticism or carping

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

bait; cod; rag; rally; razz; ride; tantalise; tantalize; taunt; tease; twit

Context example:

His fellow workers razzed him when he wore a jacket and tie

Hypernyms (to "taunt" is one way to...):

bemock; mock (treat with contempt)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "taunt"):

barrack; flout; gibe; jeer; scoff (laugh at with contempt and derision)

banter; chaff; jolly; josh; kid (be silly or tease one another)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

taunt; taunting (aggravation by deriding or mocking or criticizing)

 Context examples 

Roxton, the man who had earned himself the name of the Flail of the Lord through three countries, was not one who could be safely taunted.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Saturn’s job is to taunt you, challenge you, and generally test your mettle.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

When he flung himself against the bars, quivering and frothing, they laughed at him and taunted him.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

There was a rustle, as if the unhappy girl, on whom she heaped these taunts, ran towards the door, and the speaker swiftly interposed herself before it.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Sometimes it involves direct attacks such as hitting, name calling, teasing or taunting.

(Bullying, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

I know not by what chain of thought the idea presented itself, but it instantly darted into my mind that the murderer had come to mock at my misery and taunt me with the death of Clerval, as a new incitement for me to comply with his hellish desires.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

She said it with a taunting pride in the midst of her frenzy—for it was little less—yet with an eager remembrance of it, in which the smouldering embers of a gentler feeling kindled for the moment.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Come!” Receiving no answer to these taunts, he would mount in his wrath to the words “swindlers” and “robbers”; and these being ineffectual too, would sometimes go to the extremity of crossing the street, and roaring up at the windows of the second floor, where he knew Mr. Micawber was.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)