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.

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Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of tongue-tied My two companions—one of whom was Alabaster—seemed a bit tongue-tied. — Literary Hub, 22 July 2026 But on April 24, Stanford got tongue-tied when asked to explain her position on abolishing ICE. — David Weigel, semafor.com, 18 May 2026 At times, Raman was tongue-tied trying to answer simple questions. — Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 7 May 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tongue-tied
  1. mute
  2. speechless
  3. incomprehensible
  4. inarticulate
  5. incoherent
  6. silent
Adjective
  • Equipped with the master sword and the Hylian Shield straight out the video game, Rosenauer tried to stay mute just like his character.
    — Rashad Alexander August 31, Kansas City Star, 31 Aug. 2026
  • His mute misadventures are the purest expression of animation’s freedom to do and draw anything.
    — Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 26 Aug. 2026
Definition of mute
Adjective
  • By the end, the audience is left almost speechless — and still thinking about this singular, deeply original performance long after Lyons has left the stage.
    — Rebecca Rosman, NPR, 31 Aug. 2026
  • His friends, from brother Luigi (Charlie Day) to Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) veer in a similar direction, somehow coming across less fully formed and three-dimensional than their nearly speechless inspirations from Nintendo‘s flagship franchise.
    — Wilson Chapman, IndieWire, 31 Mar. 2026
Definition of speechless
Adjective
  • War of the Worlds fuses post-9/11 paranoia and the terror of parenting to create one of Spielberg’s most thrilling blockbusters with a dark, genuinely scary atmosphere of ordinary people being wiped out by incomprehensible tragedy.
    — Wesley Stenzel, Entertainment Weekly, 21 Aug. 2026
  • Farnaby’s character, a thickly-accented and mostly-incomprehensible farmer, was, of course, called Barry.
    — Alex Ritman, Variety, 7 Aug. 2026
Definition of incomprehensible
Adjective
  • Just as between them William James and Michael Oakeshott told us that there is no such thing as unmediated experience, so, surely, there is no such thing as inarticulate thought.
    — Richard Lansdown, The New York Review of Books, 25 June 2026
  • Simpson, butched up and closed off and vibrating with inarticulate pain, is superb in the part, and Jimenez’s rigid shoulders and frozen face are wrenching.
    — Sara Holdren, Vulture, 20 May 2026
Definition of inarticulate
Adjective
  • That all happens within the first 15 seconds; the remainder of the ad is more or less incoherent.
    — Anthony Crupi, Sportico.com, 28 Aug. 2026
  • The problem is compounded by an EU that has passed its post-Cold War peak and is increasingly divided and incoherent, limiting France’s ability to mobilize the bloc behind any strategic agenda, let alone Paris’s.
    — Kamran Bokhari, Forbes.com, 21 Aug. 2026
Definition of incoherent
Adjective
  • Don Henley compares the Eagles’ role there to the organist at a silent movie.
    — Mikael Wood, Los Angeles Times, 27 Aug. 2026
  • This was nearly a full day after the latest injury there, and park officials have remained silent about what necessitated the closure.
    — Blake Ellis, CNN Money, 27 Aug. 2026
Definition of silent

Browse Nearby Words

tongues
tongue-tied
tonic
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Tongue-tied.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tongue-tied. Accessed 3 Sep. 2026.

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