as in joke
something said or done to cause laughter
the senator deftly inserted some smart one-liners into an otherwise sober speech
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of one-liner
Although the killer pilgrim movie from 2023 is more stomach-churning than Ruben’s film, this nutty blend of hyper-violence and one-liners is a dark comedic delicacy.
—
Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 6 Feb. 2025
Clean Slate, a mixed bag of lovable characters and stale one-liners, captures the appeal of that optimism but suffers from its naïveté in an era very different from the 1970s.
—Judy Berman, TIME, 6 Feb. 2025
But his one-liner about tariffs and immigration felt like end-times overload after his opening message about the L.A. wildfires.
—Justin Curto, Vulture, 3 Feb. 2025
Epstein was known for his sense of humor, and since his name was publicized, a video of him delivering jokes and one-liners during in-flight announcements on a regional flight to Charlotte has gone viral on TikTok, with more than a million views.
—Ben Sales, Sun Sentinel, 31 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for one-liner 
Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 6 Feb. 2025
Clean Slate, a mixed bag of lovable characters and stale one-liners, captures the appeal of that optimism but suffers from its naïveté in an era very different from the 1970s.
—Judy Berman, TIME, 6 Feb. 2025
But his one-liner about tariffs and immigration felt like end-times overload after his opening message about the L.A. wildfires.
—Justin Curto, Vulture, 3 Feb. 2025
Epstein was known for his sense of humor, and since his name was publicized, a video of him delivering jokes and one-liners during in-flight announcements on a regional flight to Charlotte has gone viral on TikTok, with more than a million views.
—Ben Sales, Sun Sentinel, 31 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for one-liner
Recent Examples of Synonyms for one-liner
Noun
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His angle: joke about the very specific and very absurd elements of cycling, snowboarding, and getting outdoors.—
Frederick Dreier,
Outside Online,
17 Feb. 2025
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While the bit was planned, some questioned whether she had been let in on the joke.—
Theresa Braine,
New York Daily News,
17 Feb. 2025
Noun
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The middle-school laughs made Isaiah Stewart feel uneasy.—
Hunter Patterson,
The Athletic,
17 Feb. 2025
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The biggest laughs were earned by Murphy, who did an impression of Morgan, while Morgan played a man named Darius and Jones played a woman named Shanice.—
Selome Hailu,
Variety,
17 Feb. 2025
Noun
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It’s often noted that TikTok played a major role in the online shift from text to video, changing the shape of memes, as the snappy, often-anonymous witticisms of Twitter were steadily replaced by intimate close-ups of TikTokers monologuing in their bedrooms.—
Dani Di Placido,
Forbes,
19 Jan. 2025
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That is kind of a tongue-in-cheek witticism amongst those who do this for a living.—
Lance Eliot,
Forbes,
18 Dec. 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near one-liner
Cite this Entry
“One-liner.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/one-liner. Accessed 22 Feb. 2025.
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