What's the difference between clown and clownish?

Clown


Definition:

  • (n.) A man of coarse nature and manners; an awkward fellow; an ill-bred person; a boor.
  • (n.) One who works upon the soil; a rustic; a churl.
  • (n.) The fool or buffoon in a play, circus, etc.
  • (v. i.) To act as a clown; -- with it.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) He lost no time climbing on the back of the clown car of the demagogue who, with ghoulishly oedipal glee, he calls “Daddy”.
  • (2) If Kyrgios cares about his career – and sometimes he is so blase about his success, wealth and celebrity he professes to hate tennis – the hip young dude from Canberra who smirks when he should be smiling, who plainly is struggling with fame, needs to understand he is not the only clown in town.
  • (3) Another McChrystal aide reportedly called the White House national security adviser, Jim Jones, a clown who was "stuck in 1985".
  • (4) Doctor Brown In 2011, the American Phil Burgers (AKA bearded silent comic Doctor Brown) performed the funniest comedy show on the fringe : a sexy, stoner clown show that delighted, intrigued and molested its audience.
  • (5) He was also a profoundly unostentatious and reserved man, and although he undertook a great variety of roles, all were informed at heart with the wisdom of the sad clown.
  • (6) St Basil's was like a clown's nose on the face of the evil empire.
  • (7) "We've come to know each other ..." At school, Stanhope says he was too dark to be considered the class clown and, after a spell as a "fraud telemarketer" ("borderline legal stuff, trying to scam people basically"), he decided to give stand-up comedy a go at an open-mic in Las Vegas.
  • (8) The funniest sketch I’ve ever seen Roger Mann and Kevin Eldon’s “Australian clowns” dialogue in Simon Munnery’s live show Cluub Zarathustra, from 25 years ago, in which the duo described the clowning process in painful detail in stoned Australian beach-bum voices.
  • (9) As well as political statements and corny clown jokes, Madonna lamented the fact she was “very single” and had not had sex for some time.
  • (10) When the famous Rivels clowns recently came to a leading Berlin music-hall with their act, which used to include a parody of Charlie Chaplin, the clown who played the mock Charlie abandoned his little moustache and bowler and appeared in another disguise.
  • (11) Handshakes and hugs all round, from that clown Blatter and the German chancellor Angela Merkel.
  • (12) The legal challenges have been issued by a group of residents called the Preston New Road Action Group and Gayzer Frackman, a professional clown from Lytham St Annes who changed his name by deed poll from Geza Tarjanyi.
  • (13) The cupula of the supraorbital neuromast in the lateral line canal of the clown knifefish contains vertical columns.
  • (14) Afterwards, the group is photographed together, and Branson plays the clown, throwing his hands up in the air and whipping out that megawatt smile.
  • (15) This is a story about how trolls took the wheel of the clown car of modern politics.
  • (16) The latter is an intriguing vision , a trojan horse of massive deregulation of some of everything – a clown balloon horse, with rainbow polka dots and a jackass smile.
  • (17) Again, he was taken as a clown and neither arrested nor disciplined.
  • (18) "Dressing for pleasure" and "fun fashion" get a bad rap, especially for women in their middle age, as it is generally assumed that this is a euphemism for women dressing like clowns and not realising that, at their age (huff, huff), they should be wearing beige cashmere.
  • (19) Even as he handed out wads of petrodollars to impoverished developing countries, their leaders mocked him behind his back for being a buffoon and a clown.
  • (20) Further collections of sketches followed – Send Up the Clowns (2011) and House of Fun (2012).

Clownish


Definition:

  • (a.) Of or resembling a clown, or characteristic of a clown; ungainly; awkward.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Karadzic and Vojislav Seselj , an extreme Serbian nationalist and former paramilitary leader, are currently performing to the same clownish script.
  • (2) It really astonished me.” Donald Trump: I get along great with Mexico but China should watch out Read more On a superficial level, says Bisley, Beijing would be ecstatic at the emergence of a “buffoonish, clownish, evil boss” who captures the “chaos of democracy” so well.
  • (3) Cigarettes, soap, shoe polish, Uncle Ben's rice and "Cream of Wheat" cereal used clownish black characters and "black" grammar in their advertising.
  • (4) These might include, say, red leather trousers, bow ties, Lycra, bomber jackets, leopard-print, cartoon sailor collars, white tights, military frogging, deckchair stripes, blazers, bikinis, giant checks and more of the massive, clownishly shouldered jackets that Diana would accessorise – often to 1980s acclaim – with panto tricorns, pillboxes the size of cake tins.
  • (5) He doesn’t publicly criticise Griff for giving paranoid lectures about the Illuminati, just like he didn’t knock Flav for becoming a clownish reality TV star.
  • (6) Bush disseminated a new web video on Saturday entitled Judgement [sic], which uses a whimsical clarinet soundtrack and interview lowlights to portray Trump as a clownish figure not suited to the grave responsibilities of the presidency.
  • (7) Stuart Campbell Hightae, Dumfriesshire • Neal Ascherson ( Letters , 25 February) says that José Manuel Barroso's "clownish blurt seems to have no support from embarrassed European commission colleagues".
  • (8) While many have portrayed him as a clownish and eccentric figure – an image no doubt reinforced by his characterisation in Team America: World Police – others say he is smart and even witty.
  • (9) He was the reserve keeper, the relic of the past, the clownish figure so often blamed for Ivorian failure.
  • (10) An optimistic interpretation is that Kim, giving the lie to his clownish, bon-viveur image, is actually being rather Machiavellian by setting the stage for a new opening to the west.
  • (11) If you have a job, most likely you'll have been at work; if you don't, just admitting to have seen Lord Freud and his serpentine, clownish position-taking would probably be grounds enough to get you sanctioned.
  • (12) For all that, Luhrmann's clownish progress has carried him far.
  • (13) Vladimir Zhirinovsky, a clownish racist whose Liberal Democratic Party's policies are as far from liberalism or democracy as they can get, proposed "cleaning" the Russian language of supposedly unnecessary borrowings last year – mentioning words such as singl , butik and performans – though it didn't get much traction then.
  • (14) Behind the clownish posturing lies one ugly fact: since 1992, when these negotiations were conceived, global greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels have risen by half.
  • (15) His appeal is clownish: fine for a fun job like City Hall, but a liability for anyone aspiring to lead the country, in charge of the military and the NHS.
  • (16) As for Jose Manuel Barroso's claim that Scotland might be barred from EU membership, which Martin Kettle calls "an important warning", this clownish blurt seems to have no support from embarrassed European commission colleagues.
  • (17) One piece I watch in the packed theatre is based on a classic piece of north Indian folk theatre, poking fun at a clownish British redcoat who attempts to have his wicked way with a local girl.