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say it: teez
tease is a verb and noun meaning "annoy persistently". It is pronounced /ˈtiz/ — teez. It carries 12 recorded senses.
harass with persistent criticism or carping
“The children teased the new teacher”
“Don't ride me so hard over my failure”
“His fellow workers razzed him when he wore a jacket and tie”
to arouse hope, desire, or curiosity without satisfying them
“The advertisement is intended to tease the customers”
“She has a way of teasing men with her flirtatious behavior”
raise the nap of (fabrics)
someone given to teasing (as by mocking or stirring curiosity)
the act of harassing someone playfully or maliciously (especially by ridicule); provoking someone with persistent annoyances
“he ignored their teases”
“his ribbing was gentle but persistent”
Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.
Definitions, synonyms and semantic relations for tease come from Princeton University’s WordNet. The pronunciation comes from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. Commonness is measured against a corpus of everyday English. Full sources and licences.