1
: local and habitual spasmodic motion of particular muscles especially of the face : twitching
2
: a frequent usually unconscious quirk of behavior or speech
"you know" is a verbal tic
Synonyms
Examples of tic in a Sentence
The verbal tic “you know” often occurs in her speech.
constantly playing with her hair is one of her more annoying tics
Recent Examples on the Web
DeHaan is, as has unfortunately been the case too often in his career, given a bunch of strange tics and asked to generate a character out of that.
—
Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 9 Jan. 2025
Her personality has been cleansed of the too-obvious psychological tics (alcoholism, narcissism, delusion) used to explain her unseemly propositions.
—Amanda Hess, New York Times, 8 Jan. 2025
Even so, there remains a slightly amateurish quality to the project, involving on-the-nose dialogue and an odd tic whereby the actors tend to emote with their eyebrows — whereas Washington’s power comes from how much her character appears to be keeping inside.
—Peter Debruge, Variety, 6 Dec. 2024
With stuttering and tics there’s some internal regulator not doing its job.
—David Browne, Rolling Stone, 21 Sep. 2024
See all Example Sentences for tic 
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Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 9 Jan. 2025
Her personality has been cleansed of the too-obvious psychological tics (alcoholism, narcissism, delusion) used to explain her unseemly propositions.
—Amanda Hess, New York Times, 8 Jan. 2025
Even so, there remains a slightly amateurish quality to the project, involving on-the-nose dialogue and an odd tic whereby the actors tend to emote with their eyebrows — whereas Washington’s power comes from how much her character appears to be keeping inside.
—Peter Debruge, Variety, 6 Dec. 2024
With stuttering and tics there’s some internal regulator not doing its job.
—David Browne, Rolling Stone, 21 Sep. 2024
See all Example Sentences for tic
Dictionary Entries Near tic
Cite this Entry
“Tic.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tic. Accessed 18 Jan. 2025.
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tic
noun1
: a regularly repeated twitching movement of a particular muscle and especially one of the face
2
: a particular form of behavior or speech that is often repeated
"you know" is a verbal tic
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