agelast

[ aj-uh-last ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

, Literary.

a person who never laughs; a humorless person (often used attributively):
His sharpest critical barbs were reserved for the arid abstractions of the agelasts, the humorless and pedantic scholars.

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Other Words From

ag·e·las·tic [aj-, uh, -, las, -tik], adjective noun

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Word History and Origins

Origin of agelast¹

First recorded in 1875–80; from Middle French agelasate, from agélastos “not laughing,” from a- a- ⁶( def ) + gelastós “laughable” (from geláein, gelân “to laugh”)

ageist Agelaus

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