as in hoot
someone or something that is very funny
the movie is a real knee-slapper if you are a fan of lowbrow humor
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Recent Examples of knee-slapper
On dinner tables frequented by Brussels sprouts, meatloaf is the well-meaning uncle whose knee-slappers are beloved, but not particularly hip.
—
Betsy Cribb Watson, Southern Living, 14 Feb. 2026
And, even more unfortunately, the conversations that Dreux and Alyssa have are not exactly knee-slappers.
—Alphonse Pierre, Pitchfork, 22 Jan. 2025
This 1940s knee-slapper on deck from Lakewood Theatre Company really isn’t so concerned with rooting out the murderer.
—oregonlive, 5 Sep. 2023
Betsy Cribb Watson, Southern Living, 14 Feb. 2026
And, even more unfortunately, the conversations that Dreux and Alyssa have are not exactly knee-slappers.
—Alphonse Pierre, Pitchfork, 22 Jan. 2025
This 1940s knee-slapper on deck from Lakewood Theatre Company really isn’t so concerned with rooting out the murderer.
—oregonlive, 5 Sep. 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for knee-slapper
Noun
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Aziza Scott is a hoot as Anna’s pregnant best friend/real-talk Greek chorus of sorts, and Coiro herself doles out zingers as a random tourist on a bus.—
Brian Truitt,
USA Today,
9 Apr. 2026
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And Donnie was so into it and so prepared, and just a hoot.—
Rebecca Milzoff,
Billboard,
31 Mar. 2026
Noun
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There are moments when Lily feels lost and anxious, and another scene where a panicked sheep knocks over furniture, although that is played for laughs.—
Patrick Ryan,
USA Today,
8 May 2026
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Even Gawker’s star investigative reporter Adrian Chen, whose exposé of the dark web marketplace Silk Road was a huge scoop, could generate laughs.—
Frank DiGiacomo,
HollywoodReporter,
8 May 2026
Noun
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The House galleries erupted in screams, chants, sirens, and outrage as the vote was taken.—
Terry Collins,
USA Today,
8 May 2026
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Inevitably, team evil has cooler powers, like Sindel’s scream and Kung Lao’s hat of doom, but in addition to allotting an inordinate amount of its combat time to Shao Kahn, who’s just a hulking guy with a hammer, the movie’s big visual idea is characters blasting one another with beams.—
Alison Willmore,
Vulture,
6 May 2026
Noun
-
Two computer monitors displayed a riot of overlapping windows, including an old, blocky software program called P-COM, which offered thirty-five types of commands.—
E. Tammy Kim,
New Yorker,
7 May 2026
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The audit by the Homeland Security inspector general found that only seven of 63 officers reviewed had received any level of riot and crowd control training.—
Andrea Castillo,
Los Angeles Times,
6 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Knee-slapper.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/knee-slapper. Accessed 11 May. 2026.
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