How to Use ticktock in a Sentence

ticktock

noun
  • The performer would listen to a few ticktocks to note the desired speed and then turn off the device to play or sing.
    Corinna Da Fonseca-Wollheim, New York Times, 30 June 2017
  • But the cool blue tones of the keyboard and the precise ticktock of the percussion also signaled a new era.
    Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 16 Sep. 2019
  • The timeline and ticktock of that commission’s work now stands as a national canon for the events of that day.
    Philip Elliott, Time, 20 Apr. 2021
  • The film proceeds with a ticktock, seesaw rhythm, tracking Warner, then KC, as the years grind on.
    Michael Phillips, chicagotribune.com, 31 Aug. 2017
  • His smooth control, the loose, musical roll of his shoulders, the ticktock rhythm of his walk — all signal the dancer within.
    Washington Post, 9 Jan. 2020
  • Manning is, at times, difficult to hear over the incessant ticktocks and the chiming and clanging on the hour and half-hour.
    Jay Jones, latimes.com, 29 Oct. 2017
  • Ten-year-old Lewis goes to live with his uncle in a creaky old house that contains a mysterious ticktock noise.
    Ed Stockly, Los Angeles Times, 2 Apr. 2021
  • The story of Cindy James is another that benefits from a robust, ticktock-style retelling of events.
    Vulture Editors, Vulture, 12 Feb. 2021
  • Sometimes the camera will pan back and forth in a ticktock pendulum fashion (get it?) and return to its starting point to reveal a terrifying change.
    Ruth Kinane, EW.com, 23 July 2021
  • The fast-moving, quickly shifting story is worthy of, well, a ticktock — a journalistic term for a timeline-style chronicle of events.
    Star Tribune, 7 Aug. 2020
  • No matter; his developing relationship with Stevie, sketched in a ticktock series of crises and comfortings, is merely a comic foil to the foreground adventures of Jack and Stephanie.
    Jesse Green, New York Times, 5 June 2017
  • Some of these problems relate to his ticktock of events during the confusing early months of the pandemic and his effort to accentuate the visionary qualities of main characters like Mecher and Dean.
    Washington Post, 5 May 2021
  • The ticktock of the raid’s secret planning and execution is exhilarating, but Obamareflects on the cathartic euphoria of the aftermath.
    Los Angeles Times, 16 Nov. 2020
  • The relentless ticktock of the rhythm does double duty: maintaining dramatic tension while dramatizing the character’s suppression of it.
    New York Times, 28 Feb. 2021
  • Cycling at predictable intervals between Keith’s long, interior harangues and his brief, prickly interactions with the director, the play acquires a ticktock rhythm that prevents the buildup of momentum.
    Jesse Green, New York Times, 8 Sep. 2019

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'ticktock.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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