badinage

[ bad-n-ahzh, bad-n-ij ]
See synonyms for badinage on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. light, playful banter or raillery.

verb (used with object),bad·i·naged, bad·i·nag·ing.
  1. to banter with or tease (someone) playfully.

Origin of badinage

1
First recorded in 1650–60; from French, equivalent to badin(er) “to joke, trifle” (verbal derivative of badin “joker, banterer,” from Old Provençal bad(ar) “to gape” or directly from Vulgar Latin batāre; cf. bay2) + -in, from Latin -īnus -ine1) + -age -age

Words Nearby badinage

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use badinage in a sentence

  • Going back, Liszt indulged in a little graceful badinage apropos of the concerto.

  • He felt the pathos of her black gown; but she had rallied from the first shock of her sorrow, and met him in his key of badinage.

    A Hoosier Chronicle | Meredith Nicholson
  • He challenged me, in badinage, as though he had a right to say who should visit Wardour.

    The Diamond Coterie | Lawrence L. Lynch
  • I could not be annoyed at this mingling of praise and badinage, especially when she relieved me from all sense of intrusion.

  • What badinage to toss into the face of a man who had braved death upon a hundred battle-fields and all for "loyalty!"

    The Broken Sword | Dennison Worthington

British Dictionary definitions for badinage

badinage

/ (ˈbædɪˌnɑːʒ) /


noun
  1. playful or frivolous repartee or banter

Origin of badinage

1
C17: from French, from badiner to jest, banter, from Old Provençal badar to gape

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012