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Slapstick: meaning, pronunciation and examples
Slapstick noun. Boisterous comedy built on pratfalls, collisions and physical mishaps.
How to say it
SLAP-stik/ˈslapstɪk/
2 syllables, stressed on the first (SLAP).
Slapstick in a sentence
The film's slapstick, all ladders and buckets of paint, still makes children howl.
Their wedding dance turned into accidental slapstick when the best man slid into the cake.
Similar and opposite
Similar:
- knockabout
- farce
- horseplay
- clowning
Where slapstick comes from
From a clown's split wooden paddle that made a loud smack when one actor hit another.
Test yourself
Which word fills the gap?
Their wedding dance turned into accidental _____ when the best man slid into the cake.
- pettifogger
- slapstick
- spondulicks
Show the answer
slapstick: Their wedding dance turned into accidental slapstick when the best man slid into the cake.