Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A playful or frivolous mood or manner.
- noun A playful remark; a witticism or joke.
- noun A playful or amusing act; a prank.
- noun An object of ridicule; a laughingstock.
- intransitive verb To make witty or amusing remarks.
- intransitive verb To act in a playful or facetious manner.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun An act; deed; achievement; exploit; gest. See
gest , n. - noun A tale of achievement or adventure; a story; romance. See
gest , n., 2. - noun A mask; masquerade; pageant.
- noun A spoken pleasantry; a laughable or intentionally ludicrous saying; a witticism; a joke; a sally.
- noun An acted pleasantry; a, jocular or playful action; something done to make sport or cause laughter.
- noun The object of laughter, sport, or mockery; a laughing-stock.
- noun Synonyms Jest, Joke; quip, quirk, witticism, sally. A joke is often rougher or less delicate than a jest, as a practical joke, but jest often suggests more of lightness or scoffing than joke, as to turn everything into jest. Joke is the word to be used where action is implied; jest is generally applied to something said.
- A common dialectal form of
just . - To tell stories or romances. See
gest , verb - I can not geste, rum, raf, ruf, by letter
- To trifle (with); amuse or entertain by words or actions; treat as trifling.
- To say or do something intended to amuse or cause laughter.
- To take part in a mask or sport; engage in mock combat; just.
- To utter in jest or sport.
- To apply a jest to; joke with; banter; rally.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- intransitive verb obsolete To take part in a merrymaking; -- especially, to act in a mask or interlude.
- intransitive verb To make merriment by words or actions; to joke; to make light of anything.
- noun obsolete A deed; an action; a gest.
- noun obsolete A mask; a pageant; an interlude.
- noun Something done or said in order to amuse; a joke; a witticism; a jocose or sportive remark or phrase. See Synonyms under
Jest , v. i. - noun The object of laughter or sport; a laughingstock.
- noun for mere sport or diversion; not in truth and reality; not in earnest.
- noun a book containing a collection of jests, jokes, and amusing anecdotes; a Joe Miller.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun archaic An
act performed foramusement ; ajoke . - noun obsolete Someone or something that is
ridiculed ; the target of ajoke . - verb To tell a joke; to
talk in aplayful manner; to make fun of something or someone.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a humorous anecdote or remark intended to provoke laughter
- verb act in a funny or teasing way
- verb tell a joke; speak humorously
- noun activity characterized by good humor
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Reverting to Baby-Talk nicknames, even in jest, is just another nail in the coffin of this blogs masculinity.
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The other thing I say only mildly in jest is that the more you know about the Emmys, the more plugged-in you feel you are, the worse you do in your predictions.
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It was meant in jest and most people take it in jest.
Superhero Nation: how to write superhero novels and comic books » Kynnaston’s Review Forum 2009
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The column was written in jest for the Hollywood crowd.
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It was meant in jest and most people take it in jest.
Superhero Nation: how to write superhero novels and comic books » Kynnaston’s Review Forum 2009
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But it was all in jest, the mayor's loyal aide assured.
Premature Parade 2010
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The day before, Francis Maude described Danny Alexander as to his right – OK, half in jest – but he is backed up by Michael Gove who is also telling anyone who will listen that Alexander is the most right wing member of the cabinet.
Conservative conference diary Allegra Stratton 2010
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Bryan, the "human cloning" quip may be in jest, but it's typical of the wrongheaded thinking about how to "solve" liberal media bias - the value of access to cloning obviously can't be restricted to libertarians.
Lovecraft, Sutter, and the Media, Bryan Caplan | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty 2009
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The only way to know if councillor John Dixon was saying in jest would be to ask him.
Councillor cleared over 'stupid' scientology tweet Hannah Waldram 2010
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Google CEO Eric Schmidt didn't help the company's growing image problem with comments during an interview last week when he said, perhaps in jest, that those concerned with its photographing if streets and homes to "just move."
Google CEO says he 'misspoke' on Street View privacy concerns Cecilia Kang 2010
sonofgroucho commented on the word jest
"Many a true word spoken in jest."
May 1, 2007