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

See Examples For:

comic strip

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

The comic strip featured a boss with two points of black hair resembling horns.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 13, 2026

Those characters have been part of America’s cultural heritage almost since their first appearance — the Blondie comic strip still runs daily in The Times, and Betty Boop’s image is widely and popularly merchandised.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 30, 2025

The play, Annie, is based on an American comic strip called "Little Orphan Annie," and when Annie's Sandy speaks, in the balloon over his head is written Arf!

From "The View From Saturday" by E.L. Konigsburg

Related Words

• cartoon
• comic