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Synonyms

no joke

Idioms  

  1. Also, no laughing matter. A serious issue, as in Missing the last flight out was no joke, or This outbreak of flu is no laughing matter. The first term dates from about 1800, and the variant from the second half of the 1500s.

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.

The time difference back to the States was no joke.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 12, 2026

Donald Trump has ridiculed Denmark's defence of Greenland as amounting to "two dogsleds", but the Sirius Dogsled Patrol is no joke: the elite navy unit works in extreme conditions where only the toughest survive.

From Barron's • Jan. 28, 2026

The collective power of the powerful is no joke.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 22, 2025

At the moment, these transactions and holdings may look good on paper, and the trading-fee revenues are no joke.

From Slate • Sep. 4, 2025

A moment later, no joke, the train’s lights and fans come back and we continue moving.

From "They Both Die at the End" by Adam Silvera

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.