no joke

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

This thing is no joke — and yes, the price reflects it.

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To raise children is no joke, for one never knows how they will turn out.

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But this was no joke, as Penelope well knew: It was the Widow Ashton’s fortune that the admiral craved.

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“Raising the dead is no joke,” Madame Ionesco warned.

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Lord Fredrick began to chuckle, but the look on the doctor’s face revealed that it was no joke.

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Related Words

• complete 
• full 
• infinite 
• outright 
• pure 
• sheer 
• simple 
• unadulterated 
• unconditional 
• unlimited 
• unqualified 
• utter