wordplay
[ wurd-pley ]
/ ˈwɜrdˌpleɪ /
noun
clever or subtle repartee; verbal wit.
a play on words; pun.
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What Does The “Bee” In Spelling Bee Mean Exactly?As spellers from across the country and around the globe gather to take part in the annual Scripps National Spelling Bee, let’s try to settle a basic question: Where does the bee in “spelling bee” come from? Bee is derived from the Old English bēn meaning “a prayer, a favor.” By the late eighteenth century, bee had become commonly associated with the British dialect form, been or …
RELATED WORDS
rejoinder, sarcasm, banter, retort, pleasantry, fun, joke, satire, badinage, humor, quip, irony, comeback, riposte, answer, wit, reply, witticism, raillery, sally
Nearby words
- wordie,
- wording,
- wordless,
- wordlessly,
- wordmonger,
- words,
- words fail me,
- words of one syllable, in,
- words stick in one's throat,
- words to that effect
Origin of wordplay
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for wordplay
wordplay
/ (ˈwɜːdˌpleɪ) /
noun
verbal wit based on the meanings and ambiguities of words; puns, clever repartee, etc
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
wordplay
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper