one-liner
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of one-liner
1965–70, one line + -er 1
Explanation
A one-liner is a joke or clever remark expressed in a single sentence, with a brief setup and a clever twist at the end. As Oscar Wilde said, "I can resist everything, except temptation." The beauty of a one-liner lies in its efficiency. There's no long buildup; it gets straight to the (funny) point. One-liners often rely on wordplay or surprise endings that catch listeners off guard. A popular one-liner is "I'm on a seafood diet — I see food, and I eat it!" Some standup comedians rely heavily on one-liners in their performances, keeping the audience rolling in the aisles! These "blink-and-you'll-miss-it" jokes show that sometimes brevity truly is the soul of wit.
Vocabulary lists containing one-liner
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
As Woody puts it in a bummer of a one-liner, “toys are for play, but tech is for everything.”
From Salon • Feb. 19, 2026
When Craig spots Austin cracking a corny one-liner on the nightly news, he smiles like Santa Claus is real.
From Los Angeles Times • May 9, 2025
“Eventually Revolut froze the account. They told me there was nothing they could do. It felt like a one-liner to say sorry.”
From BBC • Oct. 19, 2024
I would love to hear a bit more about your unplanned cameo and one-liner.
From Los Angeles Times • May 30, 2024
Freckles laughs about my Holocaust one-liner, and it doesn’t even sound like a condescending adult laugh.
From "Better Nate Than Ever" by Tim Federle
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
