straight man
nounDefinition of straight man
: a member of a comedy team who feeds lines to a partner who in turn replies with usually humorous quips
Examples of straight man in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
His best guests are clued in to this dynamic and play straight men. — Jason Zinoman, New York Times, "The Sociopathic Comedy of Brett Davis," 10 Apr. 2018 And these are straight men, who didn't identify as being allies or anything else. — Henry Youtt, Billboard, "5 Empowering Lyrics From Shea Diamond's 'Seen It All'," 29 June 2018 Since the silent era, with overt depictions of gay men verboten, drag was often just a comedic device straight men used to get away with something. — New York Times, "Gaysploitation Upends the Stereotypes That Make Us Wince," 1 June 2018 But worse is the show’s stark juxtaposition of gay men ennobled mostly by aesthetic graces (and canned wit) and straight men zhuzhed up before being sent out to live better, fuller lives. — Richard Lawson, HWD, "Why L.G.B.T.-Centered TV Is Stuck in the Past," 30 May 2018 And the standard episodes featuring straight men start to feel a bit repetitive. — Kelly Lawler, USA TODAY, "Too much, too soon? 'Queer Eye' and reality shows that return too quickly," 15 June 2018 During the closing credits, none other than John Calipari serves as straight man for a Duke/Kentucky joke, with former Blue Devil Irving getting to deliver the punchline. — Mark Feeney, BostonGlobe.com, "In ‘Uncle Drew,’ Kyrie dribbles, Kyrie shoots, Kyrie acts," 27 June 2018 That just reminds me to have the confidence of a white straight man. — John Ortved, New York Times, "See the Art That Tavi Gevinson Collects," 3 Jan. 2018 Hug, who won his fourth straight men’s wheelchair race, immediately went into the medical tent after crossing the finish line: Completing the #BostonMarathon in today?s weather seems absolutely miserable. — Hayden Bird, BostonGlobe.com, "What Desiree Linden and the rest of the Boston Marathon winners had to say about the weather," 16 Apr. 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'straight man.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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