as in tied
to attach (someone or something) to something else by or as if by means of a line or cord
I tethered the boat to the dock before coming ashore.
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Recent Examples of tethered
Only an air hose and a rope tethered them to the surface.
—
Tara Massouleh McCay, Southern Living, 4 Jan. 2026
Firefighters wearing bright orange and red ice rescue suits were seen crawling across the frozen pond while tethered with safety ropes as chunks of ice broke around them.
—Jasmine Baehr, FOXNews.com, 3 Jan. 2026
That weapon is the Doom Slayer, who in this game doesn’t act according to his own freewill for most of the game, but is instead tethered to the Makyrs.
—Richard Newby, Time, 6 Dec. 2025
Lund keeps the action tethered to the site, ranging no farther than the dugouts, the woods beyond the outfield, and the nearest street.
—Justin Chang, New Yorker, 5 Dec. 2025
The documentary follows the Grammy winner from his native Nigeria to meet fans and perform in the United Kingdom — reshaping the relationship between the two countries long tethered by colonialism.
—Rachel Raposas, PEOPLE, 2 Dec. 2025
Much of the home construction market in rural Colorado is focused on wealthy residents from other areas and not tethered to local incomes.
—Aldo Svaldi, Denver Post, 1 Dec. 2025
Cormican, then in his 30s, put on a wetsuit and a scuba mask and tethered himself to his older brother, Bruce, a volunteer firefighter in Black River Falls.
—Jamie Thompson, The Atlantic, 6 Nov. 2025
The defense agreement permanently tethered the foreign policies of the two countries together, decisively shifting Canada away from its long incorporation in the British Empire.
—Dónal Gill, The Dial, 28 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tethered
Verb
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The interface incorporates gamification elements such as badges, achievements, and cocktail discovery missions tied to different locations.—
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That’s the difference between having a mere below-average QB versus an awful one tied to your receiver.—
Verb
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In a state bounded on three sides by seawater, where water courses through underground aquifers and some 50 inches of rain falls annually, a series of historic efforts to drain the Everglades have made modern Florida possible.—
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More than 60% of those arrests — nearly 1,200 — occurred in the Harrison District, roughly bounded by Division Street, Roosevelt Road, Western and Cicero avenues.—
Cite this Entry
“Tethered.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tethered. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
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