1
as in laugh
something said or done to cause laughter
he was known for his hilarious jokes
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
2
as in parody
a poor, insincere, or insulting imitation of something
her rendition of the national anthem is a joke
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in fool
a person or thing that is made fun of
having lost his looks and his voice years ago, these days he's just a show business joke and fodder for late-night comedy
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
1
as in to fun
to make jokes
he was known for his ability to joke about his lack of anything resembling a social life
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 joke
Ken Rosenthal, New York Times, 17 Oct. 2025
While his company doesn’t make use of his surname, his brother has a business that does, which has led customers to make jokes.
—Miles Klee, Rolling Stone, 16 Oct. 2025
Sean McIndoe, New York Times, 17 Oct. 2025
Midler joked to Colbert in an exaggerated pleading tone.
—Edward Segarra, USA Today, 16 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for joke
Noun
His joke hearkened back to a sequence during Scherzer’s time with the Washington Nationals, when manager Dusty Baker came to the mound, planning to remove him.
—Ken Rosenthal, New York Times, 17 Oct. 2025
While his company doesn’t make use of his surname, his brother has a business that does, which has led customers to make jokes.
—Miles Klee, Rolling Stone, 16 Oct. 2025
Verb
Plenty of us even tempted fate by joking about it.
—Sean McIndoe, New York Times, 17 Oct. 2025
Midler joked to Colbert in an exaggerated pleading tone.
—Edward Segarra, USA Today, 16 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for joke
Recent Examples of Synonyms for joke
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
-
Attorney General Pam Bondi reacted to Amy Poehler's Saturday Night Live (SNL) parody with a direct message to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.—
Megan Cartwright,
MSNBC Newsweek,
13 Oct. 2025
-
Season 2 of The Hunting Wives looks pretty steamy… at least according to Saturday Night Live‘s parody.—
Dave Nemetz,
TVLine,
11 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Don’t let the success of KPop Demon Hunters at the box office fool you, Netflix is still Netflix.—
Bethy Squires,
Vulture,
16 Oct. 2025
-
Sabonis and Zach LaVine are fringe All-Stars most seasons, Keegan Murray is a solid wing starter who shoots and defends, DeRozan can still get midrange buckets and shot-fake fools into heaps of fouls, and Malik Monk is electric in a sixth-man role.—
John Hollinger,
New York Times,
10 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
Jenner, 28, began teasing the song earlier in the day on Monday, sharing the cover art in a post to her Instagram account.—
Amy McCarthy,
PEOPLE,
14 Oct. 2025
-
SpaceX teases a return to eye-catching booster landings After using most of its fuel and propelling Starship toward space, the Super Heavy on Monday safely broke away from the upper Starship spacecraft and veered back toward Earth.—
Jackie Wattles,
CNN Money,
14 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Jones eventually got into his joking bag, and Bleek took that opportunity to seriously set the record straight one last time.—
Armon Sadler,
VIBE.com,
15 Oct. 2025
-
And their joking comments about their relationship never help the matter.—
Lizzie Lanuza,
StyleCaster,
15 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Arquette, meanwhile, manages to make Maggie more than a caricature.—
Bill Goodykoontz,
AZCentral.com,
13 Oct. 2025
-
The screenplay stumbles the most when trying to render its Gen Z students, often diving too far into caricature.—
Mathew Rodriguez,
Them.,
10 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Then, the scammers build fake profiles on Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, which includes sending friend requests to people in the target's social media network to give the appearance of mutual friends.—
Molly Beck,
jsonline.com,
14 Oct. 2025
-
Ukraine has long sought more air defense as Russia has heavily relied on drone and missile assaults to pound civilian targets, including residential buildings, schools as well as maternity and children’s hospitals, since the onslaught of the war.—
Caitlin McFall,
FOXNews.com,
14 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
Just before Thursday’s taping Pence and Emanual met outside the greenroom, and each greeted each other warmly, quickly asking each other questions about their kids before anything else, while kidding with each other about a long unpaid bet.—
Ted Johnson,
Deadline,
10 Oct. 2025
-
Okay, kidding about that last part.—
Elizabeth Logan,
Glamour,
7 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Joke.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/joke. Accessed 20 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share