Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A blank, expressionless face.
- n. A person, especially a performer, who has or assumes a blank expression.
- adj. Impassively matter-of-fact, as in style, behavior, or expression: deadpan delivery of the joke.
- adv. With a blank, expressionless face.
- v. To express in an impassive, matter-of-fact way.
- v. To express oneself in an impassive, matter-of-fact way.
Wiktionary
- adj. Deliberately impassive or expressionless (as a face or look).
- adj. Having such a face or look (as a person).
- adj. Impassive (as behaviour or speech).
- n. A style of comedic delivery in which something humourous is said or done while not exhibiting a change in emotion or facial expression.
- v. To express (oneself) in an impassive or expressionless manner.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. deliberately impassive in manner
- adv. without betraying any feeling
Examples
“Otherwise, if they just do what I call a deadpan interpretation, you miss the emphasis and you miss the real importance of what your Russian counterpart is saying.”
“I ran up to find him lying there on fire while the game noted in deadpan text "Your friend is hurt".”
“[S] ly humor and a certain deadpan zaniness give literary conventions an ironic twist, with hilarious results.”
The Willoughbys: Summary and book reviews of The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry.
“I have a really good deadpan, and while matastas has many fine skills, he will be first to tell you that reading Scandosotan deadpan is not on the list.”
“Since deadpan is the way in 3-5 days I should have one in my grubby paws.”
“I wonder if being completely deadpan is a side effect of eating Monkey Chow.”
EXTRALIFE – By Scott Johnson - This is why the internet rocks…
“He said it in a deadpan, which is pretty much how he says everything, but it might have been a helpful statement nonetheless.”
The Washington Post: FreeFest: Pavement plays for the devotees
“I took the phone and tried to keep my expression as deadpan as he was.”
“Those of you too lazy to hit the last link won't understand this, but the key to a successful performance of this story is to remain deadpan.”
Literary Death Match: Wednesday Night in Washington Square Park
“The man was staring down at him, his expression eerily deadpan.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘deadpan’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4084 more...
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My Strange Kitchen
It seems that whenever I look away, new gadgets and devices and tools and dishes and utensils and ingredients are multiplying in my kitchen drawers and my cabinets.
tectonic plates, spoonbill, fork in the road, bowl haircut, whisk away, greasy spoon, melting pot, pan flute, platelets, spooning, pitchfork, jackknife and 100 more...
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Types of Humor
dry wit, irony, sarcasm, black humor, blue humor, gallows humor, parody, Burlesque, satire, repartee, wit, deadpan and 12 more...
bilby Who shot 'im? Mar 4, 2010
madmouth today itself I ran across this meaning of 'pan' in the Canterbury Tales!
"...'who shall yeve a lovere any lawe?'
Love is a gretter lawe, by my pan" (1164-65) Mar 4, 2010
trochee "“Deadpan” (also spelled “dead pan” and “dead-pan”) actually began life as a theatrical term, according to the Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang.
The term, which refers to a blank, impassive expression¸ can be a noun, a verb, an adjective, or an adverb."
from commentary on the history of deadpan Mar 3, 2010
mialuthien "The term "deadpan" first emerged as an adjective or adverb in the 1920s, as a compound word combining "dead" and "pan" (a slang term for the face). It was first recorded as a noun in Vanity Fair in 1927; a dead pan was thus 'a face or facial expression displaying no emotion, animation, or humor'. The verb deadpan 'to speak, act, or utter in a deadpan manner; to maintain a dead pan' arose by the early 1940s, apparently as a journalistic coinage rather than a theatrical one.
It must be noted that today its use is especially common in humour from the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. It is also very appreciated in France, by the influence of the "esprit" (dry-humour mostly). Many popular American sitcoms also used deadpan expressions, most notably Friends and Seinfeld. Dry humor is often confused with highbrow or egghead humor. Although these forms of humor are often dry, the term dry humor actually only refers to the method of delivery, not necessarily the content." – Etymology of "deadpan" from the Reference.com Jul 30, 2008
sionnach "A woodland deity has met his end", said Tom with a deadpan expression. Dec 8, 2007