as in joke
good-natured teasing or exchanging of clever remarks
members of the Algonquin Round Table were known for their brilliant and witty banter
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
as in to joke
to make jokes
the teacher bantered pleasantly, albeit a bit awkwardly, with the students at the school dance
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of banter
Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 10 Oct. 2025
Most of the fans keep it light and engage in friendly banter rather than antagonize one another.
—Scott Dochterman, New York Times, 10 Oct. 2025
Toni Fitzgerald, Forbes.com, 4 Sep. 2025
The rule is simple: Everyone guesses and banters around who did what; the culprit drinks.
—Kambole Campbell, Vulture, 18 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for banter
Noun
The movie’s tone is all over the place, but Roberts and Clooney’s chemistry helps ground it; their easygoing banter eventually leads to tenser and tenser exchanges.
—Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 10 Oct. 2025
Most of the fans keep it light and engage in friendly banter rather than antagonize one another.
—Scott Dochterman, New York Times, 10 Oct. 2025
Verb
No, Tony and Ziva are not officially together, giving them room to banter again.
—Toni Fitzgerald, Forbes.com, 4 Sep. 2025
The rule is simple: Everyone guesses and banters around who did what; the culprit drinks.
—Kambole Campbell, Vulture, 18 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for banter
Recent Examples of Synonyms for banter
Noun
-
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts got in on the joke after his team captured the National League pennant for the fifth time in the past nine years.—
Andy McCullough,
New York Times,
25 Oct. 2025
-
Students embraced the joke, and before long, every game began with hundreds of tortillas soaring into the night sky as the whistle blew for kickoff.—
Jessica Safavimehr,
Southern Living,
24 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Newlyweds Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco made their first appearance as a married couple at the event — sneaking off right after taking their carpet photos — while Demi Moore and Lucy Liu shared some laughs on the photo line, and Scorsese and Ben Stiller each brought their daughters as dates.—
Kirsten Chuba,
HollywoodReporter,
19 Oct. 2025
-
Its interconnected tales, which evoke campfire stories and urban legends, wring morbid laughs and genuine scares in much the same fashion as Tales From the Crypt.—
Randall Colburn,
Entertainment Weekly,
18 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
The action flows, the badinage is fast and fun.—
Owen Gleiberman,
Variety,
28 Aug. 2025
-
Each bus has a pair of hosts, whose badinage is corny but crowd-pleasing.—
Patricia Marx,
New Yorker,
5 May 2025
Noun
-
How did Betty manage the scenes with Ophelia, with their bawdy repartee?—
Adam Gopnik,
New Yorker,
20 Oct. 2025
-
No one is better built than Leavy, a crafty veteran sportswriter, for between-innings repartee, wry asides, and tossed-off ideas for improving her beloved sport—and maybe even keeping its ever-looming obsolescence at bay for another decade or three.—
Mark Leibovich,
The Atlantic,
8 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
The jury also appreciated the thematically appropriate disregard for linear time used in the movie and found hope and joy in watching these characters seek humor and hold tight to each other in the face of a difficult disease.—
Christian Blauvelt,
IndieWire,
24 Oct. 2025
-
Rather than shy away from the association, the company decided to respond to the incident with humor.—
Martha McHardy,
MSNBC Newsweek,
24 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Now, how about that chatter about a possible WBD bid?—
Georg Szalai,
HollywoodReporter,
19 Oct. 2025
-
Glenn's winless start through the first six games has caused chatter to begin in the media about the possibility that New York could move on from Glenn before next season.—
Jordan Sigler,
MSNBC Newsweek,
17 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
With time, their caustic raillery transforms into sincere attachment.—
Charlie Tyson,
The Atlantic,
13 May 2021
-
French’s evocation of place, a rural way of life and overall creepiness are superb, as is the dialogue, a festival of Irish raillery and repartee.—
Washington Post,
Washington Post,
14 Oct. 2020
Noun
-
None of this will keep Republicans and conservatives from attacking the reconciliation bill with smoke, mirrors and persiflage.—
Michael Hiltzik,
Los Angeles Times,
10 Aug. 2022
-
As Nixon’s political strategist, Kevin Phillips, told the New York Times in 1970: All the talk about Republicans making inroads into the Negro vote is persiflage.—
Jane Coaston,
Vox,
12 Oct. 2018
Cite this Entry
“Banter.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/banter. Accessed 25 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share