one-liner
Americannoun
-
one-liners
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
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.
See Examples For:
Political observers caution against reading too much into a salty one-liner.
From Salon ● Aug. 23, 2025
Asante is bringing back his best one-liner, “We will shock the world.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 11, 2025
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
The nautical one-liner was ranked among the best by 40% of those surveyed.
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2024
One of the reasons laughter is so effective as a tool for persuasion—and any stand-up comic who has ever seen off a heckler with a zinging one-liner knows this—is that laughter is involuntary assent.
From "Words Like Loaded Pistols" by Sam Leith
Its closest resemblance is to Wain’s 2014 romantic comedy parody, “They Came Together,” which, despite having no shortage of memorable one-liners, functions best as a whole.
From Salon ● Jul. 12, 2026
While there are still "snarky one-liners" and moments of wit in the sequel, the characters find themselves in a "whole new landscape", Blunt says.
From BBC ● May 1, 2026
Out of this process came iconic one-liners and beloved characters, such as Leon, played by J.B.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 19, 2026
The “Chuck Norris facts” phenomenon — a stream of absurd one-liners casting him as an invincible force of nature — helped turn the actor into a meme sensation before memes were a business.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 20, 2026
In October, he wrote a funny letter, full of puns and one-liners, to Barbara, at college in Minnesota.
From "The Woman All Spies Fear" by Amy Butler Greenfield
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.
