noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   The action of ruffling or setting in disorder.

   "Cassie reached over and gave Sammy's dark hair a tousle."

Verb

1. 1
   To put into disorder; to tumble; to touse; to muss.
2. 2
   disarrange or rumple; dishevel wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

clutterderangedisarrangedisarraydisheveldislocate

Example

More examples

"Cassie reached over and gave Sammy's dark hair a tousle."

Etymology

From Middle English touselen, equivalent to touse + -le. Cognate with German Low German tuseln, Bavarian zusseln, züsseln.

Related phrases

tousle-hairedtousle-headed

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.