as in joke
something said or done to cause laughter
the senator deftly inserted some smart one-liners into an otherwise sober speech
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of one-liner
Fret not, the sequel to the 2023 Super Mario Bros movie is here with a plethora of new one-liners for kids to repeat without end.
—
Rebecca Aizin, PEOPLE, 3 Apr. 2026
Not all of the performances are uniformly excellent, and some of the one-liners Ropp writes in for Brian’s classmates and parents land awkwardly.
—Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 23 Mar. 2026
The deadpan one-liners exaggerating his strength, speed and toughness to absurd levels, turned Norris into one of the internet’s first global memes.
—Bryan Alexander, USA Today, 20 Mar. 2026
With his roundhouse kicks, tough-guy one-liners and a formidable moral compass, Chuck Norris delivered kick-ass heroes for years on screens large and small, cementing himself in pop culture back in the 1980s.
—Emily St. Martin, Los Angeles Times, 20 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for one-liner
Rebecca Aizin, PEOPLE, 3 Apr. 2026
Not all of the performances are uniformly excellent, and some of the one-liners Ropp writes in for Brian’s classmates and parents land awkwardly.
—Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 23 Mar. 2026
The deadpan one-liners exaggerating his strength, speed and toughness to absurd levels, turned Norris into one of the internet’s first global memes.
—Bryan Alexander, USA Today, 20 Mar. 2026
With his roundhouse kicks, tough-guy one-liners and a formidable moral compass, Chuck Norris delivered kick-ass heroes for years on screens large and small, cementing himself in pop culture back in the 1980s.
—Emily St. Martin, Los Angeles Times, 20 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for one-liner
Recent Examples of Synonyms for one-liner
Noun
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As the Ado Annie-like Betsy, a horny teen-ager whose father owns a shotgun, Kurtz is playing a character who should be, and kind of is, a one-joke punch line.—
Emily Nussbaum,
New Yorker,
30 Apr. 2026
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Complaints about hospital food are certainly not new, and Jell-O and fruit juice are often the butt of related jokes.—
Stephanie Armour,
CBS News,
30 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Their laughs and chatter fill the countryside and one another’s hearts, the merriment binding them all together like caterpillars in one big cocoon.—
Brian Moylan,
Vulture,
24 Apr. 2026
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Over Your Dead Body knows that sustaining a harmonious union amid petty jealousies, paranoia, and personal flaws is hard; navigating a hostage situation involving desperate sickos and sociopaths is even harder; and maintaining a balance of laughs and gag-reflex tweaking is the hardest of it all.—
David Fear,
Rolling Stone,
24 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Here opposites — classy and brassy — are distractions, with odd-couple joking substituting for something more substantial.—
Frank Rizzo,
Variety,
23 Apr. 2026
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There was none of the usual laughing and joking.—
Mario Cortegana,
New York Times,
20 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“One-liner.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/one-liner. Accessed 2 May. 2026.
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