Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Characterized by joking.
  • adjective Given to joking.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Given to jesting; jocose; merry; waggish: said of persons.
  • Of the nature of or containing a joke; sportive; not serious: as, a jocular expression or style.
  • Synonyms See jocose.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Given to jesting; jocose.
  • adjective Sportive; merry.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective formal Humorous, amusing or joking.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adverb with humor
  • adjective characterized by jokes and good humor

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin ioculāris, droll, from ioculus, diminutive of iocus, joke; see yek- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin iocularis, from ioculus ("a little jest"), diminutive of iocus ("a jest").

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Examples

  • Further, The Daily Show's Asif Mandvi, who happens to be an Indian-American Muslim in addition to being funny, could make a cameo appearance to help define and explain a new word e.g. the word jocular to the young viewing audience.

    Engy Abdelkader: Islamophobic Bullying In Our Schools Engy Abdelkader 2011

  • Further, The Daily Show's Asif Mandvi, who happens to be an Indian-American Muslim in addition to being funny, could make a cameo appearance to help define and explain a new word e.g. the word jocular to the young viewing audience.

    Engy Abdelkader: Islamophobic Bullying In Our Schools Engy Abdelkader 2011

  • That which is commonly known by the term jocular and comick, is nothing but a turn of expression, an airy phantom, that must be caught at a particular point.

    The Works of Samuel Johnson, Volume 05 Miscellaneous Pieces Samuel Johnson 1746

  • Just as mysteriously, in a little more than a century, a new past tense form, snuck, has crept and then rushed out of dialectal use in America, first into the areas of use that lexicographers label jocular or uneducated, and more recently, has reached the point where it is a virtual rival of sneaked in many parts of the English-speaking world.

    SpikedHumor - Today's Videos and Pictures 2009

  • We, must take RESPONSIBILITY to FIX this world and SHE (THEY!) will just reign supreme in jocular sniping snobbery.

    In ad wars, Obama spends more but Clinton sets tempo 2008

  • “Well, he — sometimes he would be a bit what he used to call jocular — about the spirits, you know, and what they said.”

    When Last I Died Mitchell, Gladys, 1901- 1941

  • This, and my being esteem'd a pretty good riggite, that is, a jocular verbal satirist, supported my consequence in the society.

    The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (1994 Edition) 1909

  • This, and my being esteem’d a pretty good riggite, that is, a jocular verbal satirist, supported my consequence in the society.

    Paras. 51-100 1909

  • This, and my being esteem'd a pretty good riggite, that is, a jocular verbal satirist, supported my consequence in the society.

    The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin 1771

  • This, and my being esteem'd a pretty good _riggite_, that is, a jocular verbal satirist, supported my consequence in the society.

    Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin 1748

Comments

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  • playful

    August 1, 2009