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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Unlike following the loss in Philadelphia, the third-year swingman was in the Hornets’ locker room postgame in Washington and seemed to be in good spirits, joking with his teammates — including LaMelo Ball, who posted his first triple-double in nearly two years.—
Roderick Boone,
Charlotte Observer,
27 Oct. 2025
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Blue Jays manager John Schneider reopened the free agency saga ahead of the World Series, joking about the gear that was used to recruit Ohtani (and a gift given to his dog, Decoy), which may have added some motivation behind the chants.—
Gabe Smallson,
MSNBC Newsweek,
25 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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The kicking game was so bad that Freeman sounded like Brian Kelly at his sarcastic best when asked about Noah Burnette, Erik Schmidt and Marcello Diomede combining to miss two extra points and one field goal.—
Pete Sampson,
New York Times,
2 Nov. 2025
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Reactions to the freestyle depended on whether or not you were tuned into its sarcastic frequency.—
Jeff Ihaza,
Rolling Stone,
30 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Bantering.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bantering. Accessed 6 Nov. 2025.
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