tether
Americannoun
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a rope, chain, or the like, by which an animal is fastened to a fixed object so as to limit its range of movement.
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the utmost length to which one can go in action; the utmost extent or limit of ability or resources.
verb (used with object)
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to fasten or confine with or as if with a tether.
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Digital Technology. to use (an electronic device, usually a smartphone or tablet) to enable a wireless internet connection on another nearby device, often a laptop.
There's no Wi-Fi, so I'll have to tether my phone to my laptop.
verb (used without object)
idioms
noun
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a restricting rope, chain, etc, by which an animal is tied to a particular spot
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the range of one's endurance, etc
-
distressed or exasperated to the limit of one's endurance
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
tethersimple
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tetherssimple
-
have tetheredperfect
-
has tetheredperfect
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am tetheringprogressive
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are tetheringprogressive
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is tetheringprogressive
-
have been tetheringperfect progressive
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has been tetheringperfect progressive
Past
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tetheredsimple
-
had tetheredperfect
-
was tetheringprogressive
-
were tetheringprogressive
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had been tetheringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of tether
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English (noun); compare Old Norse tjōthr, Dutch tuier
Explanation
Both a verb and a noun, tether keeps things tied together, or is the tie itself. Remember, when you tether that chair to those balloons, use a strong tether. You don't want to drop from the sky because you tied them together using a cheap piece of rope. Think of the childhood game tether-ball. The ball is tethered to a pole by a tether. Tether usually refers to a rope or a chain, but it can also refer to an invisible bond or link. For example, the Internet can serve as a tether that links you to your pen pal in Germany. The love between a mother and her child keeps them tethered to each other for a lifetime. And whenever astronauts go for jaunts outside the space station, they tether themselves to the station using wires and a hook.
Vocabulary lists containing tether
The Cay
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"The Odyssey" by Homer, Books 19–24
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"Hitching a Ride"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
I wanted a little culinary tether, some proof of belonging, the opportunity to say, “Oh, yeah, I know a place, too.”
From Salon ● Jul. 11, 2026
At the film’s aching core is the romantic tether between the boys that refuses to die even in the face of gory attacks, painful betrayals and even uncertainty among the two of them.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2026
The drone that led Gauntlet I was Shrike, a first-person-view, or FPV, strike drone using a 12-mile fiber-optic tether.
From Barron's ● Apr. 28, 2026
Investigators found Hexa used the account to move about $500 million worth of the stablecoin tether over several months since 2024 to what investigators referred to as “Entity A.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 23, 2026
As he clipped his safety tether onto the fixed rope he tossed his ice ax down, then left it lying on the rocks as he embarked on the first rappel.
From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer
I’ve seen people use fanny packs with tethers inside to further secure phones and also phone lanyards.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 1, 2026
His approach tethers DNA probes dubbed "Inverse Molecular Sentinels" to the points of star-shaped gold nanoparticles.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 13, 2024
The actors required harnesses and tethers attached to a gantry.
From Salon ● Jan. 19, 2024
To support them, he anchors parallel rows of eight- or 10-foot canes into the ground, about eight inches apart within each row, and then tethers the rows together with a bamboo crossbar near the top.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 17, 2024
DeShon stands, tethers himself, and crawls slowly onto and across the webbing.
From "Paradise on Fire" by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Blakesley said they padded out a rubble sack and tethered it to rope so it would float, before using a sample pole to gently nudge the eggs into the bag.
From BBC ● Jun. 23, 2026
Soccer logo and tethered to a rise just outside the stadium.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 26, 2026
Lambert, who’s been with the company since before the IPO, acknowledges that its future may not necessarily be so tethered to cards.
From MarketWatch ● May 25, 2026
Alongside covering roads in huge nets to stop drone attacks, both Russia and Ukraine have fired thousands of tethered fibre-optic attack drones -- with the webs of discarded cables stretching for dozens of kilometres.
From Barron's ● May 20, 2026
The dragonflies were still asleep, tethered with cobweb-thin cord, their wings damp with dew.
From "The Amber Spyglass" by Philip Pullman
But by tethering interpretation to statutory text and congressional intent while applying it to the real-world cases of an ever-evolving society, the new regime curbs the unintended consequences of law’s diverging from reality.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 24, 2026
Colonel Parker, Elvis’s manager, kept his cash cow on a leash, tethering him first to middling B-pictures, then to casinos.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 19, 2026
It may now be tethering on the edge of a bigger drop.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 29, 2026
You could, for instance, be charged for tethering your goat on a public street, fixing a leaky tap without a licence or not naming the owner of a building when asked.
From BBC ● Apr. 22, 2025
But she had tiny feet, tethering in high-heeled shoes.
From "A Long Way from Chicago" by Richard Peck
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.