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.

His efforts to be a terrifying figure are routinely undercut by his clownishness.

From Salon • Sep. 3, 2025

The problem with evil clowns is that it’s the clownishness, not the evil, they soon shed.

From Seattle Times • Dec. 14, 2022

Goals at the other end have declined, too, by about a third, but that’s a small price to pay if it lessens the embarrassing clownishness at the back.

From The Guardian • Feb. 17, 2020

Nothing could be further, at least on the surface, from the last edition’s moral clownishness than the 10th Berlin Biennale, led by the South African curator and artist Gabi Ngcobo.

From New York Times • Jun. 12, 2018

Just as he smirks and rolls his eyes in her actual presence, so he puts on apathetic and unescapable clownishness when he essays to dissect her in the privacy of the laboratory.

From In Defense of Women by Mencken, H. L. (Henry Louis)