Word of the Day

: May 9, 2018

jocose

adjective joh-KOHSS

What It Means

1 : given to joking : merry

2 : characterized by joking : humorous

jocose in Context

"Mr. Battle has a pleasant, jocose style of public address, but Ms. Jamison's is without equal, exciting in rhythm and phrasing, hilarious in off-the-cuff remarks, generous in spirit." — Alastair Macaulay, The New York Times, 4 Dec. 2015

"His natural sound, the tone that rises when he is writing unself-consciously to friends, is nothing like the voice of his good fiction. He was naturally garrulous and jocose—indeed, by the time he was a celebrity he was so garrulous and jocose that it shocked people, though he was just being himself." — Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 3 July 2017

Did You Know?

When you need a word to describe something (or someone) that causes or is intended to cause laughter, you might pick jocose or a synonym such as humorous, witty, facetious, or jocular. Of those terms, humorous is the most generic and can be applied to anything that provokes laughter. Witty suggests cleverness and a quick mind, while facetious is a word for something that is not meant to be taken seriously. Jocose and jocular both imply a habitual waggishness and a fondness for joking.