one-liner
Americannoun
-
one-liners
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of one-liner
1965–70, one line + -er 1
Explanation
A one-liner is a joke or clever remark expressed in a single sentence, with a brief setup and a clever twist at the end. As Oscar Wilde said, "I can resist everything, except temptation." The beauty of a one-liner lies in its efficiency. There's no long buildup; it gets straight to the (funny) point. One-liners often rely on wordplay or surprise endings that catch listeners off guard. A popular one-liner is "I'm on a seafood diet — I see food, and I eat it!" Some standup comedians rely heavily on one-liners in their performances, keeping the audience rolling in the aisles! These "blink-and-you'll-miss-it" jokes show that sometimes brevity truly is the soul of wit.
Vocabulary lists containing one-liner
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.
See Examples For:
The Thanksgiving episodes are shocking and absurd, packed with scathing one-liner digs and soapy melodrama; feasts so good that you can’t help but come back for more.
From Salon ● May 17, 2025
When Craig spots Austin cracking a corny one-liner on the nightly news, he smiles like Santa Claus is real.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 9, 2025
But, as a stand-up comic, I’ve evolved from a one-liner to a comedian that tells stories, and it’s some really dark stuff but it’s all funny.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 11, 2025
She added: "He was always the first to help people in need. Brimming with empathy and living for the present, he would always have a funny one-liner up his sleeve making everyone around him laugh."
From BBC ● May 28, 2024
Something catches me off guard—a TV show, a funny one-liner from my dad, a comment in class—and I laugh like nothing ever happened.
From "All The Bright Places" by Jennifer Niven
Its closest resemblance is to Wain’s 2014 romantic comedy parody, “They Came Together,” which, despite having no shortage of memorable one-liners, functions best as a whole.
From Salon ● Jul. 12, 2026
The “Chuck Norris facts” phenomenon — a stream of absurd one-liners casting him as an invincible force of nature — helped turn the actor into a meme sensation before memes were a business.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 20, 2026
O'Hara's character Moira was a particular delight, with her wildly fluctuating accent, outlandish fashion sense, and brilliant one-liners.
From BBC ● Jan. 30, 2026
Some films linger in our minds because of their sharp plots, quotable one-liners and unforgettable characters.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 23, 2026
The banter they’d developed, full of his exasperation and her one-liners, was entertaining to anyone who overheard it.
From "Zeitoun" by Dave Eggers
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.
