as in boorish
having or showing crudely insensitive or impolite manners
the clownish antics of some of the teenagers at the wedding reception
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of clownish
Pratt, who long cultivated a clownish and villainous persona, leveraged his significant social media presence following the fire to refashion himself as an earnest mix of citizen watchdog and populist firebrand.
—
Gary Baum, HollywoodReporter, 7 Jan. 2026
Switcheroo is all snappy disco, clownish house, and musical sight gags.
—Pitchfork, 4 Dec. 2025
The combo together ensures that the lip doesn't look clownish.
—Sarah Hoffmann, Allure, 3 Oct. 2025
In part, because there was something fascinating about the clownish way their once cutting-edge images no longer fit.
—Indiewire Staff, IndieWire, 16 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for clownish
Gary Baum, HollywoodReporter, 7 Jan. 2026
Switcheroo is all snappy disco, clownish house, and musical sight gags.
—Pitchfork, 4 Dec. 2025
The combo together ensures that the lip doesn't look clownish.
—Sarah Hoffmann, Allure, 3 Oct. 2025
In part, because there was something fascinating about the clownish way their once cutting-edge images no longer fit.
—Indiewire Staff, IndieWire, 16 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for clownish
Recent Examples of Synonyms for clownish
Adjective
-
An exodus of prosecutors who didn’t care for his staff screaming sessions and boorish press conferences.—
Gustavo Arellano,
Los Angeles Times,
26 Jan. 2026
-
In that film, McAdams is bawdily hilarious yet shockingly believable as a high school girl who finds her body being embodied by Schneider’s boorish thief.—
Jenelle Riley,
Variety,
20 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
But maybe Johnson isn’t stupid.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
11 Feb. 2026
-
Such as the one where the candidate remarked that some white rural Americans were stupid and racist.—
Mark Leibovich,
The Atlantic,
11 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
An evening revue of wild, uncouth performance art by local artists, emphasizing work that is often discouraged elsewhere.—
Kirby Adams,
Louisville Courier Journal,
29 Jan. 2026
-
The series offers Whitford his latest opportunity to express general bemusement with the American political process, this time sporting a bushy white beard, and Whigham his latest opportunity to be an uncouth bull in an otherwise genteel china shop.—
Daniel Fienberg,
HollywoodReporter,
6 Nov. 2025
Adjective
-
This was like loutish English tourists turning up unannounced and urinating in the holy water.—
Tim Spiers,
New York Times,
22 May 2025
-
And Gandolfini, who died of a heart attack in 2013 at age 51, was the show’s tempestuous soul, playing a loutish killer with a quick temper and sad eyes.—
Chris Vognar,
Los Angeles Times,
28 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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Communism, in its traditional definition, describes a system in which private property is abolished and the means of production are collectively owned, with the goal of creating a classless society.—
Cameron Schoppa,
MSNBC Newsweek,
5 Nov. 2025
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Louis Hartz maintained that the hegemony of liberal thought, with its vaunting of the classless individual, made Marxists politically superfluous.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
5 Nov. 2025
Adjective
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Assuming this is something beyond Trumpian posturing, and that’s unclear, any such decision would not only be churlish and cruel but poorly targeted.—
The Editorial Board,
Chicago Tribune,
7 Jan. 2026
-
Kay hasn’t acted since before Marty was born, and Marty never breaks character — they were made for a churlish May-December affair that unlocks something in them both.—
David Ehrlich,
IndieWire,
1 Dec. 2025
Adjective
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When authorities asked King to remove the breast banner as vulgar, King taped over the nipples with stars made of tape or Magic Marker.—
Kansas City Star,
Kansas City Star,
3 Feb. 2026
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Sarah, the former Duchess of York, also sent emails to Epstein which included a vulgar mention of Eugenie, who had not yet turned 20 at the time, People reported.—
Rachel Burchfield,
InStyle,
3 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Clownish.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/clownish. Accessed 17 Feb. 2026.
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