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joke

[

johk]

Example Sentences Origin

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noun

something said or done to provoke laughter or cause amusement, as a witticism, a short and amusing anecdote, or a prankish act: He tells very funny jokes. She played a joke on him.

something that is amusing or ridiculous, especially because of being ludicrously inadequate or a sham; a thing, situation, or person laughed at rather than taken seriously; farce: Their pretense of generosity is a joke. An officer with no ability to command is a joke.

a matter that need not be taken very seriously; trifling matter: The loss was no joke.

something that does not present the expected challenge; something very easy: The test was a joke for the whole class.

practical joke.

verb (used without object)

to speak or act in a playful or merry way: He was always joking with us.

to say something in fun or teasing rather than in earnest; be facetious: He didn't really mean it, he was only joking.

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Joke is one of our favorite verbs.

So is peculate. Does it mean:

to steal or take dishonestly (money, esp. public funds, or property entrusted to one's care); embezzle.

chat, to converse

LEARN MORE FUN, UNUSUAL VERBS WITH WORD DYNAMO...

verb (used with object)

to subject to jokes; make fun of; tease.

to obtain by joking: The comedian joked coins from the audience.

Origin:
1660–70; < Latin jocus jest

Related forms

joke·less, adjective

jok·ing·ly, adverb

half-jok·ing, adjective

half-jok·ing·ly, adverb

un·jok·ing, adjective

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un·jok·ing·ly, adverb

COLLAPSE

Synonyms
1. wisecrack, gag, jape, prank, quip, quirk, sally, raillery. Joke, jest refer to something said (or done) in sport, or to cause amusement. A joke is something said or done for the sake of exciting laughter; it may be raillery, a witty remark, or a prank or trick: to tell a joke. Jest, today a more formal word, nearly always refers to joking language and is more suggestive of scoffing or ridicule than is joke: to speak in jest.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To joke

Example Sentences

Replaced by observational humor, irony and wit, the narrative joke has ceased to exist.

The blonde half of the joke is as false as any other joke of its derogatory ilk, but the other half gets at a fact about writers.

They generally have no equivalent in other languages, so the joke is lost.

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Replaced by observational humor, irony and wit, the narrative joke has ceased to exist.

The blonde half of the joke is as false as any other joke of its derogatory ilk, but the other half gets at a fact about writers.

They generally have no equivalent in other languages, so the joke is lost.

People joke about tree huggers, but no one laughs when old-growth woodlands are described as cathedral forests.

They've lost their credibility over this man made global warming joke.

They liked to joke that their wives were fat because they buttered their toast on both sides.

It's almost a joke the way so many trees here are billed as the widest, the tallest, or the oldest.

It's a good thing the creators got in their joke while they could.

When a joke is tame enough to be told on screen, its taboo days are already long gone.

During their first month on the job, many professors find that they're not in on the joke.

When every joke about your business mentions featherbedding, you should be worried about outsourcing.

Locals joke that the last step is to put a horseshoe in it-if the horseshoe floats, you know it's good coffee.

There's a little joke hidden in this sleek, sophisticated garden.

The point when the joke can't be reversed is also the point it ceases to be funny.

So both people who are in on the joke and people who aren't are buying.

As the old joke goes: when your neighbour loses his job, it is called an economic slowdown.

He knew what made a joke work, what endeared characters to theatergoers, and how far he could push a gag.

Speaking of wine, we've turned a joke into a challenge.

Either everything he writes is a huge joke in poor taste or he's completely insane.

The fact that telling a joke might lead to arrest, and perhaps worse only added to the forbidden thrill.

There was a running joke about who's matzo balls were best.

There's an old joke about a man who visits a doctor, complaining that his arm hurts whenever he moves it a certain way.

Forget that this grain alcohol has always been something of an economic and environmental joke.

Count me as one a reader who laughed her way through the entire thing and knew from the first joke that it was satire.

No, it's a joke that recontextualizes and deconstructs traditional humor through the application of hypertechnological techniques.

Just when you think the author has milked a joke for all it is worth, he milks it one more time, in a good way.

And this, ladies and gentlemen, concludes the obligatory hockey/mullet joke.

The national news media arrived to get in on the joke.

The people in the movie realized what a joke the plot was, thus the filmed suicides were real.

The umbrella thing was clearly an unfunny, inappropriate joke.

The joke now is on the critics of the president's foreign policy.

There's an old joke that the only thing two dog trainers can agree on is that the third one is wrong.

It has been a running joke in the neighborhood, but they succeeded at last.

The joke is on those who ban books, statistically speaking.

Locals used to joke that the only life that could survive in the skies was jumbo jets.

Corsican politicians rose up with one voice, howling in protest at the maladroit joke.

Back when she made this grand proclamation it was a joke.

The joke was that it was a quarterly that came out once a year”.

With a nice touch in self-deprecation, he could rescue himself from a joke that had bombed.

Sure that the porters were playing a joke on him, he jumped outside and ran around the tent, but found nothing.

Hooking up home appliances is part geek bravado, part insider joke and part open-source hardware experiment.

Send a birthday card or gift as you usually would from her secret sister, but of course not a joke card or gag gift.

My uncle has a joke that my brother is the son he never had.

Resulting photos are realistic enough to be both a joke and an incentive to diet.

Maybe even joke around and make mildly self-effacing comments about your accent.

The snarl and stench of the nerve-jangling traffic nearly drown out the joke.

It's easy to joke about the absurdity of the measure.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

joke (dʒəʊk)

—n
1.	a humorous anecdote
2.	something that is said or done for fun; prank
3.	a ridiculous or humorous circumstance
4.	a person or thing inspiring ridicule or amusement; butt
5.	a matter to be joked about or ignored
6.	joking apart seriously: said to recall a discussion to seriousness after there has been joking
7.	no joke something very serious

—vb
8.	(intr) to tell jokes
9.	(intr) to speak or act facetiously or in fun
10.	to make fun of (someone); tease; kid

[C17: from Latin jocus a jest]

'jokingly

—*adv*

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

joke

1670, joque, "a jest, something done to excite laughter," from L. jocus "joke, sport, pastime," from PIE base *yek- "to speak" (cf. Bret. iez "language," O.H.G. jehan "to say," Ger. Beichte "confession"). Originally a colloquial or slang word. Meaning "something not to be taken seriously" is 1791. Joker,

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meaning "odd face card in the deck" is from 1885, probably from earlier slang sense of "man, fellow, chap" (1811).

"American manufacturers of playing-cards are wont to include a blank card at the top of the pack; and it is, alas! true that some thrifty person suggested that the card should not be wasted. This was the origin of the joker." ["St. James's Gazette," 1894]

Practical joke "trick played on someone for the sake of a laugh at his expense" is from 1804.

COLLAPSE

Slang Dictionary

joke definition

tv.
to tease someone; to make fun of someone. : Everybody was joking my roommate because of her accent.

Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

joke

see crack a joke; dirty joke; no joke; sick joke; standing joke; take a joke.