clowning 1 of 2

clowning

2 of 2

verb

present participle of clown

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for clowning
Noun
  • Certainly, an irreverent portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte is warranted, but at two and a half hours of alternating brutality and buffoonery, this movie really tries one’s patience.
    Joe Reid, Vulture, 9 Mar. 2024
  • His is a sort of erudite buffoonery that consistently tap-dances between clever, self-aware, and patently stupid.
    David Sims, The Atlantic, 22 Mar. 2025
Verb
  • The sketch sees Sarah Sherman imitating Wood’s Chelsea, cartoonishly wide-eyed, donned in large false teeth and speaking in a thick accent.
    Claire Franken, TVLine, 13 Apr. 2025
  • The company uses data and AI learning to simulate attacks that go beyond just imitating an individual’s voice – like most modern sophisticated phishing attacks, the technology uses details about someone’s family, background, personality and more.
    Laya Neelakandan, CNBC, 2 Apr. 2025
Noun
  • Tirhakah Love is a senior writer at New York Magazine and the host of the new evening newsletter Dinner Party, a daily email that touches on all things entertainment — that means film, television, music, tech, and gaming — plus politics and corporate clownery.
    Vulture, Vulture, 29 Apr. 2022
  • The Winx Club live action is a big clownery!
    Olivia Truffaut-Wong, refinery29.com, 25 Jan. 2021
Noun
  • Would that all life could be filled with such tomfoolery.
    Graeme Wood, The Atlantic, 9 May 2025
  • Another aspect to note is that the AI didn’t ridicule me or otherwise play any tomfoolery about my need for assistance.
    Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 3 May 2025
Noun
  • The action anime feature for everyone who couldn’t get enough of the horseplay in The Two Towers has finally cantered onto Max.
    Savannah Salazar, Vulture, 1 Mar. 2025
  • Mike Vrabel’s back And the horseplay is going to stop, apparently.
    Josh Kendall, The Athletic, 11 Feb. 2025
Noun
  • Carmen and Benny both gain a level of cachet around campus for having (ostensibly) slept together, but the encounter itself is a slapstick disaster.
    Inkoo Kang, New Yorker, 15 May 2025
  • Jam-packed with his absurd self-aware humor, the finale deviates from the show’s usual slapstick raunch with a rare tender moment between Jesse and his equally crude siblings, Judy (Edi Patterson) and Kelvin (Adam DeVine).
    Glenn Garner, Deadline, 4 May 2025
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.

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Cite this Entry

“Clowning.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/clowning. Accessed 24 May. 2025.

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