Meaning

The sound of the ticking of an analog clock..

Definitions by Sense

1. The sound of the ticking of an analog clock.
2. (colloquial) Time is running out; a deadline is approaching.
3. To make continual clicking sounds like those of an analog clock; to tick.
4. When marching, to swing arms and legs on the same side at the same time.
5. The sound of a ticking clock.
6. (journalism) A step-by-step account of an event or timeline.

Example Sentences

Near-synonym: clock is ticking

You may be smart enough to elude the law for five years, but your time has run out. Tick tock, motherfucker.

And so as the clock tick-tocked along at MetLife Stadium on Friday night, the possibility grew into the probability that this frustrating, scoreless quarterfinal between Colombia and Peru would end up in one of those unfortunate, nearly random shootout results.

Ex-military didn't pass up the chance to harshly criticise the mediocre stepping, noting their "tick-tocking" technique which is a term used in the army, describing moving arm and leg on the same side in the same direction while marching.

Stepping inside from the courtyard, there was silence except for the tick-tock of the antique grandfather clock in the great hall. The hulking cream-and-gray flagstones underfoot had been worn away from centuries of service.

A few days ago, the Washington Post published a long, depressing ticktock of the Trump administration’s execrable attempts to control the coronavirus and “reopen” the country for business, beginning with a shocking but not exactly surprising anecdote about how the president’s economic advisers had abetted the president’s most destructive impulses.

Word Forms

• tick tock
• ticktock
• tick-tocks
• tick-tocking
• tick-tocked

Synonyms for tick-tock

Related Words

When Should You Use Tick-tock?

Use tick-tock when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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