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Meanings of facetious in English

Cleverly amusing in tone.

Related terms

Treating serious issues with deliberately inappropriate humour.

Usage of facetious in English
1
Ralph had usually treated it facetiously; but present circumstances proscribed the facetious.
The Portrait of a Lady — Volume 1
2
Sir, - Your report of August 12th was inappropriately facetious and inaccurate.
The Irish Times
3
The termination of the miseries of this facetious genius was now approaching.
Curiosities of Literature, Vol. 1
4
But the honorable member was inclined to be facetious on the subject.
Select Speeches of Daniel Webster, 1817-1845
5
Straight across the tops of two columns it ran, a facetious caption:
North of Fifty-Three
6
From most guys, the answer would have been nothing short of facetious.
Cooking Up Murder
7
His attempt to sound facetious was not altogether convincing, and nobody smiled.
The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke
8
But Esther was far from giving the proposal so facetious a reception.
The Prairie
9
Does the facetious Lucilius make no alterations in the tragedies of Accius?
The Works of Horace
10
After this facetious threat he paid no further attention to the messenger.
Jim Cummings; Or, The Great Adams Express Robbery
11
Only Maulo, the camp jester, hurled a facetious comment at the corpse.
The Leopard Woman
12
Occasionally, and very carefully, the facetious sociologist administered a real bruising blow.
The Night-Born
13
Then came another of my devils-myfacetious devil-andhe made me laugh.
The Journal of Arthur Stirling : ("The Valley of the Shadow")
14
That night Aurora-surnamed Australis by a facetious digger-wasparticularly attentive to Done.
In the Roaring Fifties
15
Then, convinced at last, he took alarm, and dropped his facetious attitude.
The Rules of the Game
16
His face expressed a facetious weariness, but his shoulders, too, were swaying.
The Best Short Stories of 1921, and the Yearbook of the American...
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Facetious through the time
Facetious across language varieties
United Kingdom
Common
United States of America
Less common