comedian
Americannoun
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comedians
plural
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a professional entertainer who amuses by relating anecdotes, acting out comical situations, engaging in humorous repartee, etc.
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an actor in comedy.
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a writer of comedy.
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any comical or amusing person.
noun
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an entertainer who specializes in jokes, comic skits, etc
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an actor in comedy
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an amusing or entertaining person: sometimes used ironically
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of comedian
Explanation
A comedian tells jokes for a living. If you have the ability to crack everyone up at the dinner table, your mom might say that you should be a comedian. Comedians perform in various ways: a stand-up comedian, for example, tells jokes on a stage at a comedy club. Other comedians might perform improvisational comedy routines in a group, or be featured in a funny movie. In the 16th century, a comedian was specifically a "comic poet," while later the words comedian and actor were briefly interchangeable. It comes from the Greek komoidia, "an amusing spectacle."
Vocabulary lists containing comedian
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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:
Count Binface -- the alter ego of comedian Jon Harvey -- exceeded expectations, however, taking 9,455 votes, 27 percent of the total.
From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026
In a video on X, external, Count Binface - who is comedian Jonathan Harvey without the costume - said he was the "winning candidate… of the candidates who bothered to turn up".
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
The man inside the bin is the comedian Jon Harvey, an Oxford graduate who has specialised in satire, writing scripts for BBC comedy shows The Thick of It and Have I Got News For You.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
That means Farage’s main contender is a comedian named Count Binface, as well as some 32 other candidates, including three from the Official Monster Raving Loony Party and a man calling himself Joseph 77.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
To Anya, Vasilisa didn’t look like a comedian.
From Anya and the Nightingale by Sofiya Pasternack
But Declan’s turf is the raffish seaside town of Blackpool, home to cheeky postcards and stand-up comedians.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
In May it emerged that hundreds of comedians had been unpaid following this year's festival, and in July an arts venue managed by the charity was repossessed due to the "non-payment of rent and insurance".
From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026
The trick is that in addition to being accomplished comedians, Mr. Segel and Ms. Weaving are also first-rate dramatic actors: Their hatred feels genuine, which only makes the jokes funnier.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
There are comedians that have way better written jokes than I do, of course, that’s great, and I think that they should follow that.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 7, 2026
The crowd clapped along with the singers, laughed at the comedians, and sang folk songs and songs of the movement.
From "Because They Marched" by Russell Freedman
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.
