View synonyms for deadpan

deadpan

[ ded-pan ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

adjective

marked by or accomplished with a careful pretense of seriousness or calm detachment; impassive or expressionless:
deadpan humor.
displaying no emotional or personal involvement:
a deadpan style.

, dead·panned, dead·pan·ning.

deadpan

/ ˈdɛdˌpæn /

Origin of deadpan¹

An Americanism dating back to 1925–30; dead + pan ¹ (in the slang sense “face”)

The Garfield specials are also unique for their deadpan delivery and oftentimes bleak worldview.

But something about the cover image—four deadpan dudes against a robin's-egg blue background—spoke to me, I guess.

But he had his own defenses, a great off-hand resilience and a deadpan humor, and he survived.

How could the deadpan-hilarious prince of SNL and 30 Rock turn in such a boring late-night talk show debut?

“I could tell you missed me more than I missed you,” Tom says, deadpan.

Halfway across the lobby, a tall swarthy man with one of those deadpan faces rose to greet him.

She continued to stare, deadpan and blank-eyed, with no answering flicker of a smile.

Suzanne looked closely at him—he was so deadpan, it was hard to tell what was on his mind.

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