What's the difference between teeter and titter?

Teeter


Definition:

  • (v. i. & t.) To move up and down on the ends of a balanced plank, or the like, as children do for sport; to seesaw; to titter; to titter-totter.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Video games specialist Game was teetering on the brink of collapse on Friday after a rescue deal put forward by private equity firm OpCapita appeared to have been given the cold shoulder by lenders who are owed more than £100m.
  • (2) Slowing growth, financial fragility, governments teetering on the brink of insolvency and default, and clear signs of a public backlash against the excesses of the rich and powerful: all have created a sombre backdrop to the invitation-only affair.
  • (3) But did those people waking up on this day in January 100 years ago actually believe Britain was teetering on the brink of war?
  • (4) According to the then-city budget director, Peter Goldmark Jr, “Many people believe there is little or no real security or receivables behind these obligations.” Wall Street bankers, who had enabled much of this reckless behavior, now abruptly refused to take up any more of the city’s notes, leaving it teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.
  • (5) But "cliff-edge" households – perhaps as many as 3.6m in England alone – now find themselves teetering precariously on the brink of poverty.
  • (6) In reality, it is exacerbating Greece's contradictions, while Greece is teetering on the edge of a cliff.
  • (7) I gaze, bemused and, yes, fascinated, at curious anthropological artefacts such as Bride Wars or He's Just Not That Into You or Confessions of a Shopaholic, in which Kate Hudson or Ginnifer Goodwin or Isla Fisher play characters who might almost belong to a third gender, a bubble-headed one that emits ear-splitting shrieks, teeters constantly on the verge of hysteria and acts as an indiscriminate mouthpiece for the placement of overpriced tat.
  • (8) "Pakistan continues to teeter on non-governability … Pakistan's education lags behind Bangladesh's.
  • (9) To care for heart transplant recipients is to walk an endless tightrope, teetering between too little immunosuppression, and consequent rejection episodes, and too much immunosuppression, with its correlated infection and neoplasia risks.
  • (10) These are not the figures of a man teetering on the edge or an army on the brink of national humiliation.
  • (11) Mention of his alleged complicity appears to have set off Kasidiaris during the talk show appearance that has highlighted Greece's teetering position on the edge of dysfunction and despair.
  • (12) On the verge of defeat the yellow and green Fanatics in the crowd, forever teetering on the line between amusing and annoying, urged him “fight, Nicky, fight” and he did just that.
  • (13) Presence and the relation of the nerve endings with associated structures in the lund of Rattus rattus rufescens (Indian black rat) and Francolinus pondicerianus (grey partridge or safed teeter) has been studied by cholinesterase technique.
  • (14) After a night of tough bargaining, European leaders have appeared to salvage what had seemed to be a summit teetering toward failure by agreeing early on Friday to funnel money directly to struggling banks, and in the longer term to form a tighter union.
  • (15) When Raymond Schwab talks about his case, his voice teeters between anger and sadness.
  • (16) There is a palpable feeling in the country that the ruling junta has run out of ground, teetering on the precipice and threatening to take the country with it.
  • (17) Photograph: guardian.co.uk Seven months later, despite the economy teetering close to a triple dip recession, the Tories' 2% lead has now stretched to 7% with 29% preferring Cameron and Osborne and just 22% putting their faith in the Labour duo.
  • (18) IFS inequality chart IFS warns of biggest squeeze on pay for 70 years over Brexit Read more “These troubling forecasts show millions of families across the country are teetering on a precipice, with 400,000 pensioners and over one million more children likely to fall into poverty and suffer the very real and awful consequences that brings if things do not change.
  • (19) The sector's problems are set to continue in 2012 as shoppers continue to cut back on non-essential spending and the economy teeters on the edge of recession.
  • (20) Innervation of the pancreas with reference to blood vessels, pancreatic duct, and islets of Langerhans has been studied in Francolinus pondicerianus (grey partridge or safed teeter).

Titter


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To laugh with the tongue striking against the root of the upper teeth; to laugh with restraint, or without much noise; to giggle.
  • (n.) A restrained laugh.
  • (v. i.) To seesaw. See Teeter.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) But in and among the general approval, there was the odd titter that such a well-established prize should find itself being backed by a purveyor of sticky drinks.
  • (2) But there’s also generic observational material (how British people avoid speaking to strangers on trains, and so on), and I soon found Hess’s incessant burbling and tittering around largely trivial subjects beginning to wash over me.
  • (3) The audience tittered when Murdoch said he thought the channel's news coverage had no political bias.
  • (4) Well Dave genuinely thought the reptiles would go mad for tantric sex lolz because when he tested it in cabinet people were seriously woof, Govey was so hysterical that Haguey was like, hark at Lady Govina, titter ye not missus & Picklesy kept shouting encore, so Dave said funny you should ask, well they have this position called the BT engineer as in you stay in all day and no one comes.
  • (5) There was a bit of tittering from the audience and it has to be said that in this city of nostalgia and football passion, where Diego Maradona will always be king and everybody is an expert, Benítez retains popular support.
  • (6) The muses holding up the balcony tittered and the huge chandelier, only just out of reach of Dodd's enormous tickling stick, tinkled with delight.
  • (7) Labour's shadow education secretary, and historian, Tristram Hunt retorts that it is Gove's argument, rather than unpatriotic Britons tittering over fictional tortoises, that is really shocking.
  • (8) And there was a certain amount of twitter tittering about two of the world's most eminent economists getting their sums wrong.
  • (9) It’s easier to say we are not guilty, the Russians are guilty … It reminds me of antisemitism: the Jews are guilty of everything,” Putin said at the end of his comments, which drew titters from the audience.
  • (10) Nadine Dorries "the suspended member for Mid Bedfordshire" – titter ye not – has not yet achieved her stated aim of encouraging a discussion about abortion or the nasty Lib Dems while emptying the dunny.
  • (11) There are a few titters from the crowd; the venue comfortably holds about 100, but because of the excitable reviews for Musgraves's new album, Same Trailer Different Park , the room is crammed with perhaps double that.
  • (12) With a competitive league match under their belts, most English teams will have a better of idea where they stand with regard to the season ahead, with Arsenal the subject of much tittering in the wake of their home defeat at the hands of West Ham after All That Talk.
  • (13) Pretentious in the best sense of the word, Bush in the early 80s became one of those artists, such as the Associates or Japan, who caused Radio 1 daytime DJs to titter nervously, or be openly derisive.
  • (14) At this point in our conversation Portman, 26 now but still with the proportions and doll-like features of a child, titters - there's no other word for it - nervously.
  • (15) Significant differences in end point titter were observed both within and between species.
  • (16) So forget Shagga, titter ye not and consider the (serious face) … Geopolitical context Remember that episode of Borgen where they spent an hour that you'll never get back on the power plays over the election of Denmark's next EU commissioner?
  • (17) Let the camp tittering cease while its spiritual significance is finally acknowledged.
  • (18) A real human voice – the conductor, presumably – raises a significant titter in the carriage when reminding us of this, adding “assuming they arrive on time”.
  • (19) "A mountain has been made out of a molehill," said Dave Bassett, oblivious to the tittering around him.
  • (20) Titter in the audience as he speaks of the controversy the award has generated.