facetious

fa·ce·tious

adj \fə-ˈsē-shəs\

Definition of FACETIOUS

1

: joking or jesting often inappropriately : waggish <just being facetious>

2

: meant to be humorous or funny : not serious <a facetious remark>

— fa·ce·tious·ly adverb

— fa·ce·tious·ness noun

Examples of FACETIOUS

1. <the essay is a facetious commentary on the absurdity of war as a solution for international disputes>
2. <a facetious and tasteless remark about people in famine-stricken countries being spared the problem of overeating>
3. Nor was Liebling seriously asserting that his facetious bit of investigation into Tin Pan Alley history constituted a refutation of Sartre's philosophy. —Raymond Sokolov, Wayward Reporter, 1980
4. … old ladies shrivelling to nothing in a forest of flowers and giant facetious get-well cards … —John Updike, Trust Me, 1962
5. The portrait is good, the prose embroidered here with the facetious parlance—is that the word?—of clubs. —V. S. Pritchett, “Club and Country,” 1949, in A Man of Letters, 1985

Origin of FACETIOUS

Middle French facetieux, from facetie jest, from Latin facetia

First Known Use: 1599

Related to FACETIOUS

Synonyms: clever, witty, humorous, jocular, smart

Antonyms: earnest, sincere

Related Words: cerebral, highbrow, highbrowed, intellectual; bantering, frivolous, jesting, joking, joshing, teasing; antic, comic, comical, droll, farcical, funny, hysterical, laughable, ludicrous, ridiculous, riotous, risible, rollicking, screaming, sidesplitting, uproarious; amusing, diverting, entertaining; mischievous, playful, prankish; jocose, jocund, jolly, jovial, laughing, merry, mirthful, sunny; scintillating, sparkling; flip, flippant, pert, smart-aleck, smart-alecky, waggish; whimsical

Near Antonyms: brainless, lowbrow, stupid, witless; corny, hackney, hackneyed, lame; humorless, unamusing, uncomic, unfunny; earnest, grave, serious, serious-minded, sober, solemn, somber (or sombre); doleful, dolorous, lachrymose, plaintive, sorry, tearful, woeful

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