33 words starting with T

• tacit adjective

  understood without being said out loud

  There was a tacit agreement that whoever cooked would not wash the dishes.

  Like unspoken, implicit, implied

• taciturn adjective

  habitually quiet and saying very little

  The taciturn farmer just nodded when we thanked him for the apples.

  Like reserved, reticent, silent

• tantamount adjective

  equal in effect or value to something else

  Not returning a library book for a year is tantamount to keeping it.

  Like equivalent, equal

• tautology noun

  saying the same thing twice in different words, needlessly

  “Free gift” is a tautology, since every gift is free.

  Like redundancy, repetition, pleonasm

• tawdry adjective

  cheap, showy, and of poor quality

  The stall sold tawdry plastic jewelry that broke within a day.

  Like gaudy, cheap, flashy

• temerity noun

  too much boldness that ignores risk or good manners

  He had the temerity to correct the visiting professor’s spelling in front of everyone.

  Like audacity, nerve, effrontery

• temperance noun

  self-control and moderation, especially in eating and drinking

  Grandfather credits his long life to temperance and daily walks.

  Like moderation, restraint, self-control

• tempestuous adjective

  full of strong, stormy feelings or weather

  The ferry crossed the tempestuous sea slowly and carefully.

  Like stormy, turbulent, wild

• tenable adjective

  able to be defended or held as reasonable

  The theory is no longer tenable after the new fossils were found.

  Like defensible, reasonable, sound

• tendentious adjective

  pushing a particular point of view, often a disputed one

  The book is a tendentious account that leaves out every fact against its argument.

  Like biased, partisan, one-sided

• tepid adjective

  only slightly warm; showing little enthusiasm

  The audience gave the singer a tepid round of applause.

  Like lukewarm, halfhearted, unenthusiastic

• testy adjective

  easily annoyed and impatient

  Dad gets testy when the traffic is slow on the way to the airport.

  Like irritable, touchy, grouchy

• thrall noun

  the state of being under someone’s or something’s power

  The children were in thrall to the storyteller’s magical tales.

  Like spell, bondage, servitude

• timorous adjective

  showing nervousness and lack of confidence

  The timorous kitten hid under the bed when visitors came.

  Like timid, fearful, fainthearted

• tirade noun

  a long, angry speech of criticism

  The coach launched into a tirade about the team’s poor passing.

  Like rant, harangue, diatribe

• titular adjective

  holding a title without real power; relating to a title

  The queen is the titular head of state, but the prime minister makes the decisions.

  Like nominal, in name only

• toady noun

  a person who flatters others to gain favor

  The class toady laughed loudly at every one of the principal’s jokes.

  Like sycophant, flatterer, bootlicker

• torpid adjective

  slow and inactive, lacking energy

  The heat made everyone torpid after lunch.

  Like sluggish, lethargic, inactive

• torpor noun

  a state of sluggishness or inactivity

  Bears sink into a winter torpor in their caves.

  Like lethargy, sluggishness, inertia

• tortuous adjective

  full of twists and turns; too long and complicated

  The tortuous road to Jomsom has hundreds of sharp bends.

  Like winding, twisting, convoluted

• touchstone noun

  a standard by which other things are judged

  For many cooks, grandmother’s dal is the touchstone of good home cooking.

  Like standard, benchmark, yardstick

• tractable adjective

  easy to control, manage, or influence

  The new puppy proved surprisingly tractable and learned to sit in a day.

  Like manageable, docile, compliant

• transfigure verb

  to change the appearance of something so that it looks more beautiful or spiritual

  The evening light transfigured the plain hills into glowing gold.

  Like transform, glorify

• transmute verb

  to change something completely into another form or substance

  Medieval alchemists dreamed of transmuting lead into gold.

  Like convert, transform, change

• tremulous adjective

  shaking slightly, often from nervousness or weakness

  In a tremulous voice, the shy boy read his poem to the class.

  Like shaky, quavering, trembling

• trenchant adjective

  sharp, clear, and forceful in expression

  The editor’s trenchant comments helped me cut my essay in half.

  Like incisive, cutting, penetrating

• trite adjective

  overused and therefore dull and unoriginal

  “Have a nice day” felt too trite to write in her best friend’s birthday card.

  Like hackneyed, clichéd, banal

• truculent adjective

  eager to argue or fight; aggressively defiant

  The truculent customer demanded to see the manager over a small mistake.

  Like belligerent, combative, defiant

• turbid adjective

  (of liquid) cloudy or muddy from stirred-up particles

  After the storm, the lake water was too turbid to see the fish.

  Like cloudy, muddy, murky

• turgid adjective

  swollen; (of writing) too pompous and complicated

  The report was so turgid that nobody finished reading it.

  Like bombastic, pompous, swollen

• turpitude noun

  wickedness and dishonest behavior

  The official was dismissed for moral turpitude after taking bribes.

  Like depravity, wickedness, corruption

• tutelage noun

  protection and teaching by a guardian or tutor

  Under the tutelage of a master potter, she learned to throw clay on the wheel.

  Like guidance, instruction, mentorship

• tyro noun

  a beginner who is just learning something

  As a tyro at chess, he lost his queen in the first ten moves.

  Like novice, beginner, newcomer