wordplay
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of wordplay
Explanation
When you use language in a witty, clever way, you use wordplay. A pun like "the chicken crossing the road was poultry in motion" is an example of wordplay. Wordplay, a word that dates from the mid-1850s, simply means "playing with words." Besides puns, wordplay includes verbal games like double entendres and literary techniques such as meaningful character names — like the werewolf Remus Lupin in the Harry Potter books, whose last name comes from "wolf" in Latin, lupus. Another type of wordplay is a "Tom Swifty," a phrase linking an adverb to a sentence with a pun: "I hate shellfish," she said crabbily.
Vocabulary lists containing wordplay
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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.
He was also a storyteller who loved wordplay – something that later informed his son's lyrics.
From BBC • May 27, 2026
Despite this, Wardle and a team of collaborators recently launched Parseword, a wordplay game inspired by Wardle's attempts to get to grips with cryptic crossword puzzles.
From BBC • Mar. 30, 2026
The narrative wanders through exuberant wordplay and digressions that can become distracting.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 27, 2026
The banter between Hamlet and the gravedigger allows for the kind of witty wordplay that is Izzard’s stand-up stock-in-trade.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 25, 2026
But that day in Alice Manfred’s house, as he listened to and returned their banter, something in the wordplay took on weight.
From "Jazz" by Toni Morrison
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.
