jocularity

American  

[jok-yuh-lar-i-tee] / ˌdʒɒk jəˈlær ɪ ti /

noun

• jocularities
  plural

1. the state or quality of being jocular.

2. jocular speech or behavior.

3. a jocular remark or act.

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• overjocularity
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• jocularities
  plural

---

Etymology

Origin of jocularity

First recorded in 1640–50; jocular + -ity

---

Explanation

A state of cheer or good humor is jocularity. It takes a certain amount of jocularity to tell a really good joke. Someone who has the quality of jocularity is playfully funny — a jokester or clown is known for his jocularity. A teacher's jocularity can transform a boring history class into something fun. Jocularity, the adjective jocular, and joke all stem from a common Latin root, iocus, or "joke."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

jocularity jocularities

No smile, no jocularity, no sense that he had just won a major victory.

From BBC ● Feb. 14, 2026

The scene pulses with athletic jocularity, good-spirited fun with an edge of danger.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 1, 2024

Gleeful, as defined in the dictionary, suggests a sense of merriment, jocularity.

From Washington Post ● Jul. 4, 2022

There’s a kind of jocularity and a camaraderie among you, but there’s also a current of tension and rivalry.

From New York Times ● Dec. 17, 2020

Raymond Birge, who became department chairman upon Elmer Hall’s passing that same year, was fond of remarking with a wry jocularity, “I don’t know what goes on over there in that Radiation Lab.”

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik

Then there was a banquet, at which Teacher Scopes stammered a few embarrassed words and the important lawyers indulged in brilliant jocularities.

From Time Magazine Archive

Under such circumstances men at times give vent to jocularities which sound coarse and shocking.

From A Maid of the Silver Sea by John Oxenham

It seems, from some jocularities attributed to his lordship, that he adds to his many other claims to distinction that of being a man of wit.

From The Humorous Poetry of the English Language; from Chaucer to Saxe by James Parton

Not that the jocularities were inane beyond the usual, but failure made them seem so.

From The Pretty Lady by Arnold Bennett

Charnock perhaps was not at that moment in a mood for jocularities.

From Miranda of the Balcony A Story by A. E. W. (Alfred Edward Woodle) Mason

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---