Meaning & use

licked

verb·Everyday

Moved the tongue across something, typically to taste, clean, or moisten it.

See it in a sentence

The dog licked the empty bowl clean before wandering back outside.

She licked the envelope shut and dropped it into the mailbox.

A note on using this word

Informally, licked can also mean thoroughly defeated or exhausted, as in the team looked completely licked by halftime.

Words with a similar meaning

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Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.

Another way to use it

2. adjective

Informal: completely defeated, beaten, or exhausted.

By the final mile of the race, he felt utterly licked and could barely finish.

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