joking
IdiomsExplanation
You can describe something that's funny, lighthearted, or flippant as joking. A joking manner can be a good quality in a kids' dentist and a not-so-good quality in a funeral director. A joking birthday card might tease the recipient about his advanced age, and a joking tone in an interviewer's voice keeps the mood light and playful. When you're in a joking mood, you're full of good humor. At the heart of the adjective joking is joke, originally joque, from the Latin iocus, "joke, sport, or pastime."
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.
Earlier this year, the “Cruel Intentions” star opened up about her home life with Prinze, joking that one of the key amenities that has helped their marriage to survive is having separate bathrooms.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 4, 2026
This kind of commiseration in the form of light, joking banter exists wherever heterosexual women gather.
From Salon • Jun. 3, 2026
It was only when they'd finished eating and drinking, laughing and joking, that they came filing back on to the coach.
From BBC • May 27, 2026
“I kind of manifested this whole thing and posted a couple TikToks last year just joking ... never thinking that it was a possibility,” Olson said during a “Good Morning America” interview on Wednesday.
From Los Angeles Times • May 13, 2026
Underneath any joking, the reality for Russians was alarming.
From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French
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.
