wordplay

American  

[wurd-pley] / ˈwɜrdˌpleɪ /

noun

1. clever or subtle repartee; verbal wit.

2. a play on words; pun.

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wordplay British  

/ ˈwɜːdˌpleɪ /

noun

1. verbal wit based on the meanings and ambiguities of words; puns, clever repartee, etc

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Etymology

Origin of wordplay

First recorded in 1870–75; word + play

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.

Example Sentences

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

“What doesn’t kill you calls you six months later” — that’s about as clean as Nashville wordplay gets.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 25, 2026

It seems at first too clever for the grim subject matter, riffing on wordplay around “jeans” and “genes,” like the controversial American Eagle advertisements starring Sydney Sweeney from the past year.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 13, 2026

And Amy Nicholson of the LA Times concluded: "William Shakespeare wouldn't be wowed by this domestic drama about his home life back in Stratford-upon-Avon. Where's the action? The wit? The wordplay?"

From BBC • Jan. 2, 2026

Soon he was taking his usual delight in wordplay and jokes.

From "The Woman All Spies Fear" by Amy Butler Greenfield

Related Words

• banter
• pleasantry
• rejoinder
• retort
• sarcasm