straight man
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of straight man
First recorded in 1925–30
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.
With Ginsberg, Glass acted as the straight man.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 21, 2026
On UPN’s “Malcolm & Eddie,” which premiered in 1996, he’s the straight man to Eddie Griffin’s frenetic doofus.
From Salon ● Jul. 23, 2025
It’s now different for him to enter LGBTQ+ rooms where lesbians might read him as a straight man or gay men might not recognize him as trans.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 11, 2024
But he has grown into his role at “Saturday Night Live,” proving to be an especially strong straight man adept at the comedy of embarrassment.
From New York Times ● Apr. 28, 2024
Then Kalus saw that the tall, straight man at the head of the table—-their leader, he perceived—-kept staring at her in growing agitation.
From The Mantooth by Leadem, Christopher
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.
