1
as in teased
to make fun of in a good-natured way
chaffed her about the brightly colored shirt she had received as a gift
Synonyms & Similar Words
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2
as in joked
to make jokes
a coworker who likes to chaff at others' expense, and this often results in hurt feelings
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of chaffed
And those advertisers that once chaffed at TV-MA content have been more willing to embrace racy fare in order to appeal to younger viewers who aren’t concerned with a few F-bombs or raw images.
—
Michael Schneider, Variety, 10 Nov. 2025
Michael Schneider, Variety, 10 Nov. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for chaffed
Verb
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His next fight hasn’t been officially announced, but Royval teased an upcoming bout on his Instagram last week.—
Kyle Newman,
Denver Post,
31 Mar. 2026
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The cover art for a Confessions of a Showgirl podcast Wade teased last summer also made use of a mint-green color scheme reminiscent of Swift’s album art.—
Jon Blistein,
Rolling Stone,
30 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Rock previously joked about being lonely in his 50s during an episode of Kevin Hart's Peacock series Hart to Heart, which aired in July 2022.—
Angel Saunders,
PEOPLE,
3 Apr. 2026
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The site joked that Tom Hiddleston would play the franchise’s first Bond boy and Gillian Anderson would be the new M in the Amazon film directed by Denis Villeneuve and written by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight — the last two of whom are genuinely attached to the 26th Bond movie.—
Leigh Blickley,
Entertainment Weekly,
1 Apr. 2026
Verb
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When Curt Cignetti was hired just more than two years ago, it was considered a smart move by the athletic department, but no one kidded themselves that Indiana was some sort of raucous fan sleeper cell just waiting to be activated.—
Will Leitch,
New York Times,
13 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Chaffed.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/chaffed. Accessed 5 Apr. 2026.
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