Word of the Day

Sunday, May 07, 2000

facetious

\fuh-SEE-shuhs\ , adjective;

Given to jesting; playfully jocular.

Amusing; intended to be humorous; not serious.

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Quotes:

J. K. Morley was being both serious and facetious when he claimed that "the world's greatest water power is woman's tears."

-- Tom Lutz, Crying: The Natural and Cultural History of Tears

He was by all odds the liveliest, most genial man in the group--"a most engaging and entertaining companion of a sweet, even and lively temper, full of facetious stories always applied with judgment and introduced apropos."

-- Richard M. Ketchum, Saratoga: Turning Point of America's Revolutionary War

Origin:

Facetious comes from French facetieux, from Latin facetia, "wit," from facetus, "witty."