tenterhooks

ten·ter·hook

T t

Transcription

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- UK Pronunciation
- UK IPA
- [ten-ter-hoo k]
- /ˈtɛn tərˌhʊk/
- /ˈten.tə.hʊks/

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- [ten-ter-hoo k]
- /ˈtɛn tərˌhʊk/

Definitions of tenterhooks word

noun tenterhooks one of the hooks or bent nails that hold cloth stretched on a tenter. 1
idioms tenterhooks on tenterhooks, in a state of uneasy suspense or painful anxiety: The movie keeps one on tenterhooks until the very last moment. 1

See all 2 definitions of tenterhooks

Information block about the term

Origin of tenterhooks

First appearance:

before 1470

One of the 25% oldest English words

First recorded in 1470-80; tenter + hook1

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Tenterhooks

noun

adjective

verb

adverb

pronoun

preposition

conjunction

determiner

exclamation

Full grammatical hierarchy of Tenterhooks

tenterhooks popularity

A pretty common term. Usually people know it’s meaning, but prefer to use a more spread out synonym. About 46% of English native speakers know the meaning and use word.

This word is included in each student's vocabulary. Most likely there is at least one movie with this word in the title.

tenterhooks usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer