tick box

Meanings

1. 1nouncountableBritish

   A small square on a form or screen that you click or mark to choose an option.

   Grammar: Countable: one tick box, two tick boxes; often used with the verb tick or check.

   Patterns

   • tick a tick box
   • put a tick in a tick box
   • a tick box on a form

   Just put a tick in the box next to your preferred date.

   The online form has a tick box for people who do not want marketing emails.

   She ticked the box marked 'vegetarian' and handed the form back.

2. 2nouncountableBritishdisapprovingfigurative

   Something done only to satisfy an official rule or to look correct, not because it is truly useful.

   Grammar: Usually singular in this figurative use, often in the phrase a tick-box exercise.

   Patterns

   • a tick-box exercise
   • tick-box culture

   For many teachers the training was just a tick-box exercise.

   Critics say the consultation is a tick-box exercise with no real influence.

Word forms

Common combinations

tick a box

Please tick the box if you would like a receipt.

a tick-box exercise

The safety check felt like a tick-box exercise rather than a real inspection.

tick the box for something

Tick the box for 'student' if that applies to you.

tick all the boxes

Her application ticks all the boxes: experience, qualifications and references.

Synonyms and how they differ

checkbox

The usual American word for the same square on a form or screen; it is also common in computing everywhere.

option

A wider word for any choice on a form or menu, while a tick box is specifically the small square you mark.

Word family

tick verb

To put a small mark next to an answer or item on a list.

tick-box adjective

Used before a noun to describe something done only to satisfy a rule, as in tick-box culture.

Commonly confused: tick box or check box?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “tick box”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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