comic strip

American  

noun

comic strips plural

1. a sequence of drawings, either in color or black and white, relating a comic incident, an adventure or mystery story, etc., often serialized, typically having dialogue printed in balloons, and usually printed as a horizontal strip in daily newspapers and in an uninterrupted block or longer sequence of such strips in Sunday newspapers and in comic books.

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comic strip British  

noun

1. Also called: strip cartoon.  a sequence of drawings in a newspaper, magazine, etc, relating a humorous story or an adventure

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• comic strips
  plural

Etymology

Origin of comic strip

An Americanism dating back to 1915–20

Example Sentences

In the very first “Doonesbury” comic strip, a young man wearing a football helmet sits in a dorm, waiting to meet his new roommate.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 19, 2026

He looked like Bill the Cat in the “Bloom County” comic strip as he stuck out his tongue and made a sound that sounded like “Aack.”

From Salon • May 22, 2026

I’m starting to think large numbers of American voters — and especially conservatives — have never read the “Peanuts” comic strip.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 3, 2026

Scott Adams, whose comic strip “Dilbert” defined a certain kind of workplace culture for more than 30 yearsbefore its author was canceled over perceived racist remarks, has died after a battle with metastatic prostate cancer.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 13, 2026

A brilliant name for a comic strip, even though the family in the comic wasn’t much like a circus.

From "All American Boys" by Jason Reynolds

Related Words

• cartoon
• comic