one-liner
Americannoun
noun
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.
“It’s like climbing a mountain,” he says, flaunting his well-honed ability to turn even the toughest-learned lesson into a playful one-liner: “Everybody’s waving at you, ‘Go back, go back.’
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 24, 2025
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
“Where was Pat?” became a one-liner in Ronald Reagan’s winning campaign against him the next year.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 24, 2025
The nautical one-liner was ranked among the best by 40% of those surveyed.
From BBC • Aug. 18, 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
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.
