heckle
verb/ˈhekl/
/ˈhekl/
[transitive, intransitive]Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they heckle | /ˈhekl/ /ˈhekl/ |
| he / she / it heckles | /ˈheklz/ /ˈheklz/ |
| past simple heckled | /ˈhekld/ /ˈhekld/ |
| past participle heckled | /ˈhekld/ /ˈhekld/ |
| -ing form heckling | /ˈheklɪŋ/ /ˈheklɪŋ/ |
- heckle (somebody) to interrupt a speaker at a public meeting by shouting out questions or rude remarks synonym barrack
- He was booed and heckled throughout his speech.
Word OriginMiddle English (originally referring to the act of splitting and straightening out the fibres of flax or hemp): from heckle ‘flax comb’, a northern and eastern form of hackle. The sense ‘interrupt (a public speaker) with aggressive comments’ arose in the mid 17th cent.; for the development in sense, compare with tease.Want to learn more?
Find out which words work together and produce more natural sounding English with the Oxford Collocations Dictionary app.
Check pronunciation:
heckle