MAKE FUN OFto try to make someone angry or upset by saying unkind things to them 〔用言语〕挑衅,侮辱,嘲弄,奚落 → tease
taunt somebody about something
The other children taunted him about his weight.
别的孩子嘲笑他长得胖。
taunt somebody with something
They taunted him with the nickname ‘Fatso’.
他们嘲弄他,给他起个绰号叫“胖子”。
‘And he’ll believe you, will he?’ Maria taunted.
“他会相信你的,对吧?”玛丽亚嘲讽道。
—tauntinglyadverbadv
Examples from the Corpus
taunt• Of course he wasn't, an innervoicetaunted.• They were accosted by three white youths who taunted and then attacked them.• The older boys taunted Chris and called him a girl.• Or maybe, as she'd taunted earlier, his actions were governed by boredom.• She was held in jailovernight, and she alleges in her lawsuit that guardstaunted her with ethnicslurs.• Now the telephone had acquired a personality, sat on the shelf so smug, taunting her with its silence.• He couldn't forget how they had taunted him about his appearance.• She went on taunting him until he lost his temper.• They taunt me and beat me.• When I didn't want to fight he would taunt me repeatedly. "Coward, '' he would say, "coward, coward, coward....''• You can blast your buddies and taunt them verbally at the same time.
taunt2 noun [countableC often plural]
MAKE FUN OFa remark or jokeintended to make someone angry or upset 言语挑衅;侮辱;嘲弄,讥笑
taunt• Was this a recrimination, or a taunt?• He wears a bikehelmet - even though it brings taunts from his peers.• The first PhoenixKing had time to think of the daemons' taunts.• Black players have to endureendlesstaunts.• The four subjects of his taunts, Trow maintains, had to silence Marlowe because of what he knew.• To be the hired help is to be helpless in the face of taunts and insults.• Henri watched him go, trying to calm himself down, distressed at how easily he had succumbed to Richmann's taunts.• We had to endure racist and sexisttaunts.• Did the taunts and rejection of women make him evil or was it just a part of his makeup?• The other two, second and third sisters, teased me too, but their taunts held no malice.
Origintaunt1
(1500-1600) Perhaps from Old Frenchtenter“to try, tempt”