Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com

sick joke

Idioms  

  1. An anecdote intended to be humorous but actually in very bad taste, as in His stories turn out to be sick jokes about people who are handicapped in some way. [Colloquial; mid-1900s]

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.

Surely it is a sick joke that will get cleared up when the men arrive?

From New York Times • Mar. 2, 2022

Andrew Bailey's comments to the BBC were branded a "sick joke" by the GMB union, while the TUC said the call was "ill-founded".

From BBC • Feb. 6, 2022

"A sick joke," read the banner headline on the Daily Mail, Britain's biggest selling newspaper.

From Reuters • Dec. 8, 2021

In 2016, investigators received an anonymous typed letter from someone who admitted to writing the earlier note and said it was a "sick joke."

From Fox News • Oct. 6, 2021

This is some sick joke or a dream.

From "Like Vanessa" by Tami Charles

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.