as in joking
marked by or expressive of mild or good-natured teasing
the gently bantering tone of the couple's conversation
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
as in jesting
to make jokes
the teacher bantered pleasantly, albeit a bit awkwardly, with the students at the school dance
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of bantering
Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 17 Oct. 2025
Jean followed her gaze out the window, to where Wole was bantering with Jean’s brother Sylvester and Jerrald and some of Jerrald’s cousins who’d been staying with them since Katrina, the summer before.
—David Wright Faladé, New Yorker, 28 Sep. 2025
Verb
Instead, criticism comes to feel just like bantering at a bar.
—Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 17 Oct. 2025
Jean followed her gaze out the window, to where Wole was bantering with Jean’s brother Sylvester and Jerrald and some of Jerrald’s cousins who’d been staying with them since Katrina, the summer before.
—David Wright Faladé, New Yorker, 28 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bantering
Verb
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According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Moore was in the Bears’ locker room joking with teammates before leaving the stadium in an ambulance.—
Paulina Dedaj,
FOXNews.com,
14 Oct. 2025
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Orgeron provided one of the most memorable quotes about his firing and subsequent buyout, joking about it when speaking to the Little Rock Touchdown Club in Arkansas in 2022.—
Sam Khan Jr,
New York Times,
12 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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As a model named Carl, stuck in a relationship corrupted by microcelebrity and Instagram view counts, Dickinson ticks with exasperation and sarcastic logic, his jaw clenched, his eyes wide and staring.—
Carrie Battan,
Vulture,
6 Oct. 2025
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Following the mother-daughter duo of Lorelai Gilmore, played by Lauren Graham, and Rory, played by Alexis Bledel, Gilmore Girls was perfectly made for millennials, packed with wistful romances, frustrating dramatic turns and just enough sarcastic jokes.—
Stephanie Sengwe,
PEOPLE,
5 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Bantering.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bantering. Accessed 22 Oct. 2025.
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