English Explanatory Dictionary

joke

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. An amusing story.
  2. Something said or done for amusement, not in seriousness.
  3. A laughably worthless thing or person; a sham.
  4. Something that is far easier or far less challenging than expected.
verb
  1. To do or say something for amusement rather than seriously.
  2. To dupe in a friendly manner for amusement; to mess with, play with.
  3. To make merry with; to make jokes upon; to rally.

Pronunciation

/ˈd͡ʒəʊ̯k/ /ˈd͡ʒɵ̞ʊ̯k/ /ˈd͡ʒoʊ̯k/ /ˈd͡ʒɔʊ̯k/ En-us-joke.ogg /ˈd͡ʒəʉ̯k/ /ˈd͡ʒɐ̝ʉ̯k/

Word forms

joke jokes joking joked

Etymology

From Latin iocus (“joke, jest, pastime”), from Proto-Italic *jokos (“word, (playful?) saying”), from Proto-Indo-European *yokos (“word, utterance”), from ultimate root Proto-Indo-European *yek- (“to speak, utter”) (of which distant cognates include Proto-Celtic *yextis (“language”) (Breton yezh (“language”) and Welsh iaith (“language”)) and German Beichte (“confession”)). Cognate with French jeu, Italian gioco, Portuguese jogo, Spanish juego, Romanian joc, English Yule, Danish Jule, Norwegian Bokmål Jul, Swedish Jul, and Norwegian Nynorsk jol.

Synonyms

joke sport

Related words

jocular fun laugh witty ridicule laughingstock jester joker jeer mock

Derived words

all jokes aside antijoke anti-joke bad joke beyond a joke blonde joke brick joke brown joke dad joke dial-a-joke dick joke dirty joke fourth wall joke green joke half joke in-joke inside joke Irish joke joke book jokee jokefest jokefic jokeful joke Joyce jokeless jokelet jokelike joke line jokely jokeman jokeproof jokes aside joke shop jokesmith jokesome jokester joke theft joke thief jokette jokey jokish jokist joky Kerryman joke knock-knock joke knock knock joke lightbulb joke light bulb joke make a joke of metajoke Newfie joke no joke nonjoke one joke practical joke private joke running joke sick joke standing joke take a joke

Translations

Azerbaijani: məzə Hungarian: vicc Polish: dowcip
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