pun
the humorous use of a word or phrase so as to emphasize or suggest its different meanings or applications, or the use of words that are alike or nearly alike in sound but different in meaning; a play on words.
the word or phrase used in this way.
to make puns.
Compare Meanings
Click for a side-by-side comparison of meanings. Use the word comparison feature to learn the differences between similar and commonly confused words.
Origin of pun
1Other words from pun
- punless, adjective
Words Nearby pun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use pun in a sentence
Lyrics from songs like “I’m a Slave 4 U,” “I’m Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman,” and “Stronger” were used as puns in headlines.
Sorry for this inevitable pun, but there seems to be a sea-change in conservation underway.
How Surprising Connections Can Save the Ocean - Issue 99: Universality | Mary Ellen Hannibal | April 29, 2021 | NautilusThe phone booth and bookshelves and pantry are all shaped like honeycombs, and the walls are full of puns like Bee Kind.
How Whitney Wolfe Herd Turned a Vision of a Better Internet Into a Billion-Dollar Brand | Charlotte Alter/Austin | March 19, 2021 | TimeReport from Week 540, in which we asked for news or historical events to be presented in the “Rocky and Bullwinkle” “A, or B” format of groaner puns or other halfwitticisms.
This presents a risk to spectacular puns accompanied by unspectacular ones, so do your best.
“There aren't any steaks involved, pardon the pun,” says Chin.
Adventure Photographer Jimmy Chin: Defying the Rational, Physically and Creatively | Oliver Jones | October 6, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTA paper published this week illuminated (pun intended) the relationship between light and matter.
Here's to hoping it's not illegal to make a terrible sex-related pun.
Our Dumb Puritan Laws: Sex Bans and Illegal Adultery | Kevin Bleyer | April 20, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTNote the bawdy pun in the first example, by which the speaker implies that she came last night.
Beauty and Subversion in the Secret Poems of Afghan Women | Daniel Bosch | April 6, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTBut at least they "forge" (pun intended) the pieces by him that matter.
He pounded out the pun ordinary by the dozen for the comic weeklies at fifty cents an item.
The Woman Gives | Owen JohnsonWin' ruffle up he ha'r, yit he aint move; sun shine down 'pun 'im, yit he aint move.
Nights With Uncle Remus | Joel Chandler HarrisI explained that he probably intended a pun upon his name, which was Coleman.
Frank Fairlegh | Frank E. Smedley"They ought to keep you there for an hour longer for that vile pun," said Cumberland.
Frank Fairlegh | Frank E. SmedleyI confess that I don't see why a good pun should be thrown aside after it has served as the soul of a single sentence.
British Dictionary definitions for pun (1 of 2)
/ (pʌn) /
the use of words or phrases to exploit ambiguities and innuendoes in their meaning, usually for humorous effect; a play on words. An example is: "Ben Battle was a soldier bold, And used to war's alarms: But a cannonball took off his legs, So he laid down his arms." (Thomas Hood)
(intr) to make puns
Origin of pun
1British Dictionary definitions for pun (2 of 2)
/ (pʌn) /
(tr) British to pack (earth, rubble, etc) by pounding
Origin of pun
2Derived forms of pun
- punner, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Cultural definitions for pun
A humorous substitution of words that are alike in sound but different in meaning (see double-entendre), as in this passage from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll:
“And how many hours a day did you do lessons?” said Alice, in a hurry to change the subject.
“Ten hours the first day,” said the Mock Turtle, “nine the next, and so on.”
“What a curious plan!” exclaimed Alice.
“That's the reason they're called lessons,” the Gryphon remarked: “because they lessen from day to day.”
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Browse