gallows humor
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of gallows humor
First recorded in 1900–05
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.
Many China hawks in the administration have taken to gallows humor, calling the shift the ‘Busan Freeze,’ named for the South Korea meeting between the leaders that produced a fragile trade detente.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 10, 2026
These songs tap into the bottomless well that Mexicans have for gallows humor.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2025
“I meant it as a bit of gallows humor, but he answered by essentially saying, Actually, sort of,” Gluck, a journalist, writes in his forthcoming memoir, An Exercise in Uncertainty.
From Slate ● May 2, 2025
It’s a gallows humor with a dark edge.
From New York Times ● May 5, 2024
I noted as another example of gallows humor that Billie had put out black guest towels and a washcloth for me.
From "Black Like Me" by John Howard Griffin
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.
