100+ Verbs That Start With T | Definitions & Examples

Lists of verbs that start with T are a useful resource for students and teachers, as well as people looking for solutions to word games. This article lists over 100 verbs beginning with T, including definitions, organized into a list of everyday verbs, like “take,” “tick,” and “twirl,” and a list of more advanced verbs, like “thwart,” “traipse,” and “trounce.”

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50+ common verbs that start with T

Here are 54 simple, everyday verbs that start with the letter T, along with concise definitions.

  • Tag: Put a name or label on something
  • Take: Pick something up and have it with you
  • Talk: Speak with someone
  • Tame: Bring something wild or uncontrolled under control
  • Tap: Hit something very lightly (often with a finger)
  • Taste: Notice a flavor with your mouth
  • Teach: Help someone learn something
  • Tear: Rip something by pulling it apart
  • Tease: Playfully annoy someone
  • Tell: Give someone information by speaking
  • Test: Check if something works or is true
  • Text: Send a message on a phone
  • Thank: Say you are grateful
  • Think: Use your mind to form ideas or make plans
  • Thaw: Become not frozen
  • Threaten: Say you will hurt someone or cause trouble
  • Throw: Send something through the air with your hand
  • Tick: Make small clicking sounds (like a clock)
  • Tickle: Touch someone lightly so they laugh
  • Tidy: Make a place clean and neat
  • Tie: Make string or rope hold something
  • Tighten: Make not loose
  • Time: Measure how long something takes
  • Tip: Give extra money to someone for service
  • Tiptoe: Walk very quietly on your toes
  • Tire: Become tired and need to rest
  • Toast: Heat bread until it turns brown
  • Toot: Make a short sound with a horn or whistle
  • Toss: Throw something lightly
  • Touch: Put your hand on something
  • Tour: Visit places to look around and learn about them
  • Tow: Pull a car, boat, or trailer behind another vehicle
  • Trace: Draw over lines to copy a shape or picture
  • Track: Follow where someone or something goes
  • Trade: Exchange one thing for another
  • Train: Practice to get better at a skill or sport
  • Transform: Change something
  • Translate: Change a text into a different language
  • Transport: Take something from one place to another
  • Trap: Catch and hold something so it cannot get away
  • Travel: Go from one place to another
  • Treat: Be kind to someone or give them something special
  • Tremble: Shake a little because you are cold, scared, or excited
  • Trim: Cut off small pieces to make something neat
  • Trip: Fall because your foot hits something
  • Trot: Run with short, quick steps (often like a horse)
  • Trust: Believe someone will be honest or do the right thing
  • Try: Do something to see if it works
  • Turn: Move around so you face a different direction
  • Tune: Adjust a radio, TV, or instrument so it sounds right
  • Twist: Turn something
  • Tumble: Fall or roll over by accident
  • Twirl: Spin around quickly
  • Twinkle: Shine with small flashes of light
  • Type: Write using a keyboard
Verbs that start with T examples
Over the next few days, the snow slowly thawed, leaving only a few small icy piles scattered around.

Maria couldn’t come out to play because she had to tidy her room.

She borrowed a wrench to tighten the saddle on her bike.

Paul touched Alex on the shoulder to get his attention.

The French homework is to translate 10 sentences.

She talked to the audience while tuning her guitar.

Tip
Teachers can use the words and definitions in this article for quick vocabulary games in the classroom—like “definition board race,” where the teacher reads a definition aloud and teams race to find the matching word from a pile of cards on their desks and stick it on the board as quickly as they can.

50+ advanced verbs that start with T

The list below contains 51 more advanced verbs that start with T—the type of verbs that could appear in reading passages and vocabulary questions on college entrance exams, advanced language proficiency tests, or standardized tests.

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  • Tabulate: Organize information into a table or clear list
  • Tackle: Take on a difficult problem directly; try to solve it
  • Taint: Make something less pure or less trustworthy
  • Tamper: Secretly interfere with something to change it or damage it
  • Tantalize: Make someone strongly want something but keep it just out of reach
  • Taper: Gradually become smaller, narrower, or less intense
  • Tarnish: Damage someone’s reputation, or make something lose its shine
  • Taunt: Provoke someone in a cruel or challenging way
  • Teem: Be full of; be present in large numbers
  • Temper: Soften or moderate something (like anger, a policy, a reaction)
  • Tend: Be likely to
  • Tender: Formally offer something (often money, help, or an apology)
  • Terminate: End something completely
  • Testify: Give a formal statement as evidence, especially in court
  • Tether: Firmly attach something to limit movement
  • Theorize: Form a theory or explanation based on limited facts
  • Throttle: Control or restrict something strongly (like speed, growth, or output)
  • Thwart: Prevent something from happening; block someone’s plans
  • Tilt: Cause something to lean
  • Titillate: Arouse interest or excitement
Advanced verbs starting with T examples (TA-TI)
The scandal tarnished his reputation.

It was spring, and the pond was teeming with life.

However, she didn’t let this setback thwart her efforts to publish the book.

  • Toil: Work extremely hard for a long time
  • Tolerate: Allow or endure something you dislike without stopping it
  • Topple: Knock something down; cause something to fall or collapse
  • Torture: Cruelly cause someone severe pain to make them do what you want
  • Tout: Promote something aggressively; praise it to get attention
  • Tokenize: Turn something into a symbol or “token,” often oversimplifying it
  • Torpedo: Deliberately ruin a plan, deal, or relationship
  • Traipse: Walk or move around in a tired, casual, or aimless way
  • Traduce: Speak falsely and cruelly about someone
  • Traumatize: Deeply shock or emotionally harm someone
  • Tranquilize: Calm someone, often by using drugs or other forceful means
  • Transact: Conduct or carry out business or official dealings
  • Transcend: Go beyond a limit; rise above ordinary experience
  • Transcribe: Copy speech or writing into written form
  • Transfigure: Change the outward form or appearance, often dramatically
  • Transfix: Hold someone’s attention completely; make them unable to look away
  • Transgress: Break a law, rule, or moral boundary
  • Transition: Move from one stage, condition, or idea to another
  • Transmute: Completely change something into something else
  • Transpire: Happen or become known gradually
  • Transpose: Switch the order or position of things
  • Traverse: Travel across; go through from one side to the other
Advanced verbs starting with T examples (TOI-TRA)
Not so long ago, she was even being touted as a presidential candidate.

The committee decided that no rules had been transgressed.

Nobody could have anticipated the events that were to transpire.

  • Trespass: Enter a place without permission
  • Triage: Prioritize people or tasks by urgency and importance
  • Trigger: Cause something to start happening (often suddenly)
  • Triumph: Win or succeed after difficulty
  • Trudge: Walk slowly and heavily, as if tired
  • Truncate: Shorten by cutting off part of it
  • Truss: Tie up firmly
  • Trounce: Defeat someone badly and decisively
  • Typify: Be a clear example of something; represent a typical case
Advanced verbs starting with T examples (TRE-TYP)
A passerby told us that if we camped there, we’d be trespassing on private property.

Allen looked out the window and saw them in the distance, trudging home in the rain.

Such attention to detail typifies her artistic approach.

Frequently asked questions about verbs that start with t

What are some irregular verbs that start with t?

Some irregular verbs that start with T include:

QuillBot’s free AI Chat can answer your questions about verb forms and tenses in English.

What are some long verbs that start with T?

Some long verbs that start with T are:

  • Transcribe
  • Transplant
  • Triangulate
  • Troubleshoot
  • Trivialize

For more verbs starting with T, ask QuillBot’s free AI Chat.

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Challenger, T. (2026, February 18). 100+ Verbs That Start With T | Definitions & Examples. Quillbot. Retrieved February 21, 2026, from https://quillbot.com/blog/word-finder/verbs-that-start-with-t/

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Tom Challenger, BA

Tom holds a teaching diploma and is an experienced English language teacher, teacher trainer, and translator. He has taught university courses and worked as a teacher trainer on Cambridge CELTA courses.

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