(n.) Something done or said in order to amuse; a joke; a witticism; a jocose or sportive remark or phrase. See Synonyms under Jest, v. i.
(v. i.) The object of laughter or sport; a laughingstock.
(v. i.) To take part in a merrymaking; -- especially, to act in a mask or interlude.
(v. i.) To make merriment by words or actions; to joke; to make light of anything.
Example Sentences:
(1) Dawn Powell: A Time to Be Born (1942) Joseph Heller: Catch-22 (1961) Kurt Vonnegut: Breakfast of Champions (1973) David Foster Wallace: Infinite Jest (1996) The American comedy, generally speaking, is a scatological thing, or a repository of racial prejudice or gender stereotypes.
(2) Defining what constitutes merely a jest and what is of a "menacing character" has not been easy for the judges.
(3) In Hall’s farewell season of Shakespeare’s late romances in 1988, he led the company alongside Michael Bryant and Eileen Atkins , playing a clenched and possessed Leontes in The Winter’s Tale; an Italianate, jesting Iachimo in Cymbeline; and a gloriously drunken Trinculo in The Tempest (he played Prospero for Adrian Noble at the Theatre Royal, Bath, in 2012).
(4) The 2010 book was written by Rolling Stone journalist David Lipsky, and is what it says on the tin: an account of a road trip with the author as he went across the US promoting his 1,100-page novel Infinite Jest, recalling the conversations the pair have and the fame that Foster Wallace is starting to experience.
(5) From Glasgow, Leeds , Bristol and Dublin , to New York , San Diego and Vancouver , to Perth , Melbourne and Sydney , groups of non-believers will be getting together to form their own monthly Sunday Assemblies, with the movement's founders – the standup comedians Sanderson Jones and Pippa Evans – visiting the fledgling congregations in what they are calling, only partly in jest, a "global missionary tour".
(6) I did not say so, thank God, even in jest, otherwise our encounter could have been even worse than it was.
(7) "That was totally in jest," he added, saying he would "tone down my sense of humour until I become president, because America needs to get a sense of humour".
(8) Green's husband Wallace, best known for the novel Infinite Jest, committed suicide at home in 2008 , and was found by Green.
(9) "F alsehood flies," wrote Jonathan Swift 300 years ago, "and truth comes limping after it, so that when men come to be undeceived, it is too late; the jest is over, and the tale hath had its effect."
(10) ‘What is truth?” said jesting Pilate – in Bacon’s famous phrase.
(11) It was a jibe made in jest by a man who had much fondness for him.
(12) In comments that a source said were largely made in jest, Johnson – who is also the Conservative candidate for Uxbridge and South Ruislip – attacked the former prime minister over his speech in support of Labour’s current leader Ed Miliband.
(13) Although this article is presented in jest, I am not above anything that works to get contributions for my newsletter.
(14) I saw Brand's Messiah Complex show in London the other week, in which he – in jest, of course – compares himself to Che Guevara, Gandhi, Malcolm X and Christ.
(15) He likes winding people up, being controversial for the sake of it and more often than not what he says is in jest.
(16) In jest or in earnest, there is a rank hypocrisy here that sits uncomfortably with me.
(17) It was planned as the much-anticipated follow-up to Infinite Jest , the teeming 1,000-page bleakly comic masterpiece that had established Wallace, at 34, as the man most likely to redefine the scope and voice of the American novel.
(18) One 18th-century classicist is even said to have planned to write a scholarly edition of the best-known joke book of that period, Joe Miller's Jests , in order to show that every single joke in it was descended from the ancient Laughter Lover .
(19) Eurozone unlocks €10.3bn bailout loan for Greece Read more I jest of course.
(20) A number of edits, apparently made in jest, have been picked up by the automatic twitter bot Congress Edits , which monitors Wikipedia for changes to the site made by accounts with IP addresses coming from inside the US legislature.
Pleasantry
Definition:
(n.) That which denotes or promotes pleasure or good humor; cheerfulness; gayety; merriment; especially, an agreeable playfulness in conversation; a jocose or humorous remark; badinage.
Example Sentences:
(1) Barack Obama and Hassan Rouhani held the first direct talks between American and Iranian leaders since the 1979 Islamic revolution, exchanging pleasantries in a 15-minute telephone call on Friday that raised the prospect of relief for Tehran from crippling economic sanctions.
(2) Although he hosted the couple’s wedding celebration dinner at a mosque and frequently talked with Farook, Mustafa Kuko, director of the Islamic Centre of Riverside, said that he had at most exchanged a few pleasantries with Malik.
(3) Beyond the clattering of cameras and some polite pleasantries about the families, it was impossible to tell exactly what the monarch-in-waiting learned from the commander-in-chief – but he seems to be picking up some lessons on US political campaigning at least.
(4) Charlie Mulgrew could easily have been shown two yellow cards by a stricter referee and amid all the usual Anglo-Scottish pleasantries, the two sets of fans put an awful lot of effort into trying to drown out one another’s national anthems.
(5) Mustafa Kuko, the Riverside Islamic Center director, told the Guardian that although he hosted the couple’s wedding celebration dinner at a mosque in Riverside and frequently talked with Farook, he had at most exchanged a few pleasantries with Malik.
(6) Willian is believed to have "held talks" with Chelsea, in which pleasantries about the muggy London weather, the comfort of his hotel room and the size of the number that will appear on his weekly pay-cheque were almost certainly discussed.
(7) Trump began his presidency as a homebody, but he is becoming increasingly comfortable on the road – surrounded by the formal pleasantries of diplomacy and dinners – and decreasingly comfortable at home, where the TV is always on and the news is always bad.
(8) Not long now: The teams are out, the pleasantries have been exchanged and the niceties are over.
(9) He walked into the office of Governor Bill Clinton and, after a few pleasantries, cut to the chase: “I’ve got a deal for you.” On 6 April 1989, From charged Clinton with transforming the fortunes of a party that, after three historic election defeats, was facing oblivion.
(10) 7.44pm BST Pre-match pleasantries The players shakes others' hands and wish each other all the best and what not.
(11) Forget about forcing people to show papers; anti-immigrant conservatives didn’t bother with such pleasantries.
(12) Experienced senators beat a path to the benches halfway between the government and the opposition areas, exchanging pleasantries with the diverse group that now holds the power to make or break the Coalition’s legislative agenda.
(13) When not discussing business, Smith and Michel make jokes and share pleasantries – "Enjoy golf", texts Michel to Smith at one point.
(14) After a few pleasantries, which included frisking my shirt for wire-tapping devices, we sat around a plastic table while the most senior officer told me that his men were actively monitoring intelligence and military activities inside the government of Nouri al-Maliki .
(15) As the new gadget privatises the function of shaving and removes it from the social encounter of the barber's shop, he mock-laments the spiritual void of the customer deprived of the barber's pamperings and chatter, but proposes a mock-resolution: the invention of a talking razor, capable, at the press of a button, of reciting all the unsolicited pleasantries of a barber – the stuff that was anathema to the satirist.
(16) The meeting began with a series of pleasantries and then a bit of history.
(17) Well done, sir.” After a brief exchange of pleasantries with Corbyn, the dad told reporters: “I think he’s a true gent and he’s what politics needs.
(18) Given how many of them we squander on pleasantries, you’d be forgiven for forgetting their universal import.
(19) Play Video 0:14 First handshake: Trump and Putin meet at G20 summit – video Earlier in the day Trump and Putin shook hands and exchanged pleasantries – an encounter captured in a video and posted to Facebook by the German cabinet.
(20) But many of those in the town who encountered May said she did not discuss politics with them, instead exchanging pleasantries.