joke
noun
something said or done to provoke laughter or cause amusement, as a witticism, a short and amusing anecdote, or a prankish act.
was joking
-
past progressiveof joke.past progressive
Used to describe an ongoing action or continuous state that was happening at a specific time in the past.
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.
"At first I thought my husband was joking, with the blue sky and the fires dying down," she said.
From Barron's ● Jul. 28, 2026
By full-time, BBC Sport pundit and former Arsenal defender Martin Keown was joking a calculator might be needed to tot up the number of times Room had bailed his team out.
From BBC ● Jun. 21, 2026
“I can see the thing depreciating in half in the last day,” said Schmier, before adding that he was joking.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 24, 2026
He’s since tried to walk that back, claiming he was joking, but it was a consistent part of his stump speech.
From Salon ● Jul. 11, 2025
I made my stories as ridiculous as possible so people would always know I was joking.
From "Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus" by Dusti Bowling
