Wordbay · Humour & insults
Funny words and polite insults
Wit, teasing and put-downs you can use in polite company: words for jokes, jokers and the people who deserve a gentle jab.
Everyday (22)
- banter noun. Playful, friendly teasing remarks traded back and forth.
- deadpan adjective. Deliberately showing no emotion or amusement, especially while saying something funny.
- defenestrate verb. To throw someone or something out of a window.
- forsooth adverb. Truly or indeed, now mostly used to mock something as pompous or unlikely.
- gibe noun. An insulting or mocking remark.
- guffaw noun. A loud, hearty, unrestrained laugh.
- ironic adjective. Turning out the opposite of what was expected, often with a grimly funny twist.
- jobsworth noun. An official who sticks rigidly to petty rules and refuses any flexibility.
- lampoon verb. To mock a person or institution publicly through satire.
- mondegreen noun. A misheard phrase, especially a song lyric, that takes on a new and often funny meaning.
- parody noun. A piece of writing, music or film that imitates another's style for comic effect.
- pun noun. A joke that plays on a word with two meanings or on words that sound alike.
- quip noun. A quick, witty remark.
- sarcasm noun. Saying the opposite of what you mean in order to mock or show irritation.
- satire noun. Using humour, exaggeration or irony to expose and criticise people's folly or vices.
- slapstick noun. Boisterous comedy built on pratfalls, collisions and physical mishaps.
- snigger verb. To laugh in a half-suppressed, often unkind way.
- spoof noun. A light-hearted imitation of something, made for fun.
- spoonerism noun. A slip in which the first sounds of two words swap, like 'a blushing crow' for 'a crushing blow'.
- tongue-in-cheek adjective. Meant ironically or as a joke, though appearing serious.
- whippersnapper noun. A young, inexperienced person who is cheeky or overconfident.
- wisecrack noun. A clever, cheeky or flippant remark.
Well-read (23)
- antediluvian adjective. Ridiculously old-fashioned; literally, from before the biblical Flood.
- buffoon noun. A person who behaves in a ridiculous but amusing way; a clown.
- bumbershoot noun. A jokey old word for an umbrella.
- callipygian adjective. Having beautifully shaped buttocks.
- chortle verb. To laugh in a gleeful, chuckling way.
- curmudgeon noun. A bad-tempered, grumpy person, often an older one, who complains about everything.
- droll adjective. Amusing in a dry, quiet or slightly odd way.
- facetious adjective. Joking about serious matters in a way that seems inappropriate or flippant.
- jape noun. A practical joke or piece of mischief.
- jocular adjective. Fond of joking, or said in a playful, joking way.
- malapropism noun. The mistaken use of a word that sounds like the right one, with a comic result.
- mordant adjective. Sharply sarcastic or cutting, especially in a witty way.
- nincompoop noun. A silly or foolish person.
- panjandrum noun. A pompous official or self-important person who thinks they are very powerful.
- pillory verb. To mock or criticise someone harshly and publicly.
- popinjay noun. A vain, overdressed person who chatters conceitedly.
- puckish adjective. Playful and mischievous.
- raillery noun. Good-humoured teasing.
- risible adjective. So silly or inadequate that it deserves to be laughed at.
- sardonic adjective. Grimly mocking or cynical.
- waggish adjective. Humorous in a playful, mischievous way.
- wiseacre noun. Someone who acts as though they know everything.
- wry adjective. Dryly or mockingly humorous, often about something unwelcome.
Advanced (19)
- cachinnate verb. To laugh loudly and without restraint.
- eructation noun. A belch, or the act of belching.
- gelastic adjective. To do with laughter, or inclined to laugh.
- hobbledehoy noun. A clumsy, awkward young man or adolescent boy.
- jackanapes noun. A cheeky, impertinent person, especially a young one.
- kakistocracy noun. Government by the least qualified or most unprincipled people available.
- lickspittle noun. A person who flatters and grovels to those in power.
- ninnyhammer noun. A fool or simpleton.
- osculate verb. To kiss (a formal or jokey word).
- pasquinade noun. A satire or lampoon, especially one posted in a public place.
- persiflage noun. Light, teasing, frivolous banter.
- pettifogger noun. A lawyer who handles petty cases with quibbles and dubious tricks.
- pooh-bah noun. A self-important person who holds many offices at once.
- scaramouch noun. A boastful but cowardly person; a buffoonish braggart.
- schlimazel noun. A habitually unlucky person to whom mishaps always seem to happen.
- sciolism noun. A show of learning that is really only shallow and superficial.
- smellfungus noun. A person who always finds fault and complains about everything.
- spondulicks noun. Money or cash (a jokey, old-fashioned word).
- ultracrepidarian noun. Someone who gives opinions on matters well beyond their knowledge.