tick

A written mark, ✓, showing that something is correct, approved, or completed.

• Put a tick beside your answer.
• The teacher gave each correct sentence a tick.
• Green ticks show which tasks are complete.

Similar words: check mark, check

Common phrases: put a tick, green tick, tick next to

A small animal that attaches to people or animals and feeds on their blood.

• There is a tick on the dog.
• She found two ticks after walking through tall grass.
• A tick bite can spread disease.

Common phrases: tick bite, remove a tick, tick on someone

A short, quiet clicking sound, often repeated by a clock or machine.

• I heard the tick of a clock.
• Each tick sounded loud in the empty room.
• The old watch made slow, uneven ticks.

Similar words: click

Common phrases: tick of something, steady tick, loud tick

A small mark on a measuring scale, or a small unit by which a value changes.

• Each tick marks five degrees.
• The price rose by one tick.
• Small ticks divide the chart axis into equal parts.

Common phrases: tick mark, one tick higher, tick on something

A very short time.

• I will be back in a tick.
• Wait a tick while I find my keys.
• It only takes a tick to save the file.

Similar words: moment, second

Common phrases: in a tick, just a tick, wait a tick

To make a series of short, quiet clicking sounds, like a clock.

• The clock ticks loudly.
• My watch stopped ticking last night.
• A small clock ticked steadily beside her bed.

Similar words: click

Common phrases: clock can tick, tick quietly, tick away

To work or function, especially when talking about how something works inside.

• He wanted to know how machines tick.
• Curiosity is what makes her tick.
• Studying the engine helped us understand what made it tick.

How to use it: what makes someone/something tick (I want to understand what makes this team tick.)

Similar words: function, work, operate

Common phrases: what makes something tick, how things tick, what makes someone tick