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Mock vs Tantalize - What's the difference?

mock | tantalize | Synonyms |

Mock is a synonym of tantalize.


As verbs the difference between mock and tantalize

is that mock is to mimic, to simulate while tantalize is to tease (someone) by offering something desirable but keeping it out of reach.

As a noun mock

is an imitation, usually of lesser quality.

As an adjective mock

is imitation, not genuine; fake.

mock

English

Alternative forms

* (l) (obsolete)

Noun

(en noun)
  • An imitation, usually of lesser quality.
  • (Crashaw)
  • Mockery, the act of mocking.
  • * Bible, Proverbs xiv. 9
  • Fools make a mock at sin.
  • A practice exam set by an educating institution to prepare students for an important exam.
  • He got a B in his History mock , but improved to an A in the exam.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To mimic, to simulate.
  • * Shakespeare
  • To see the life as lively mocked' as ever / Still sleep ' mocked death.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Mocking marriage with a dame of France.
  • To make fun of by mimicking, to taunt.
  • * Bible, 1 Kings xviii. 27
  • Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud.
  • * Gray
  • Let not ambition mock their useful toil.
  • To tantalise, and disappoint (the hopes of).
  • * Bible, Judges xvi. 13
  • Thou hast mocked me, and told me lies.
  • * 1597 , William Shakespeare, Henry IV , Part II, Act V, Scene III:
  • And with his spirit sadly I survive, / to mock the expectations of the world; / to frustrate prophecies, and to raze out / rotten opinion
  • * 1603 , William Shakespeare, Othello , Act III, Scene III:
  • "It is the greene-ey'd Monster, which doth mocke / The meate it feeds on."
  • * 1667 , John Milton, Paradise Lost :
  • Why do I overlive? / Why am I mocked with death, and lengthened out / to deathless pain?
  • * Milton
  • He will not / Mock us with his blest sight, then snatch him hence.
  • * 1765 , Benjamin Heath, A revisal of Shakespear's text , page 563 (a commentary on the "mocke the meate" line from Othello):
  • ‘Mock’ certainly never signifies to loath. Its common signification is, to disappoint.
  • * 1812 , The Critical Review or, Annals of Literature , page 190:
  • The French revolution indeed is a prodigy which has mocked the expectations both of its friends and its foes. It has cruelly disappointed the fondest hopes of the first, nor has it observed that course which the last thought that it would have pursued.

    Synonyms

    * See also * See also

    See also

    * jeer

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Imitation, not genuine; fake.
  • tantalize

    English

    Verb

    (tantaliz)
  • to tease (someone) by offering something desirable but keeping it out of reach
  • to bait (someone) by showing something desirable but leaving them unsatisfied
  • Quotations

    * 1880 — *: They could not bear to be tantalized nor tortured by the splendid delusion. * 1884 — , section 22 *: All pleasures palled upon me; all sights tantalized and tempted me to outspoken treason, because I could not but compare what I saw in Two Dimensions with what it really was if seen in Three, and could hardly refrain from making my comparisons aloud. * 1895 — , Ch. XV *: He had been possessed of much fear of his friend, for he saw how easily questionings could make holes in his feelings. Lately, he had assured himself that the altered comrade would not tantalize him with a persistent curiosity, but he felt certain that during the first period of leisure his friend would ask him to relate his adventures of the previous day. * *: “It was—simply amazing,” she repeated abstractedly. “But I swore I wouldn’t tell it and here I am tantalizing you.” * 1936 — , Ch. IX *: As we threaded our dim way through the labyrinth with the aid of map and compass ... we were repeatedly tantalized by the sculptured walls along our route. ... If we had had more films, we would certainly have paused briefly to photograph certain bas-reliefs, but time-consuming hand-copying was clearly out of the question.