1
as in comedy
humorous entertainment
an actor whose roles range from slapstick to serious drama
Synonyms & Similar Words
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2
as in clowning
wildly playful or mischievous behavior
a lowbrow comedy that relies heavily on slapstick for its laughs
Synonyms & Similar Words
as in zany
Related Words
Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Recent Examples of slapstick
Declan Gallagher,
Entertainment Weekly,
9 June 2026
The slapstick titles—Crackned Horsez, To of Them, Ape Island, all 1972—further stymied any straightforwardly polemical takeaway.
—
Jeremy Lybarger,
Artforum,
2 June 2026
Luke Chinman,
PEOPLE,
2 June 2026
Performers were often white people who donned blackface to mock Black people through song, dance and slapstick comedy.
—
A.d. Carson,
The Conversation,
6 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for slapstick
Noun
Kim Jee-woon’s astonishing action-thriller is a fusion of ideas and genres, including a surprising but not-unwelcome slapstick comedy runner.
—
Declan Gallagher,
Entertainment Weekly,
9 June 2026
The slapstick titles—Crackned Horsez, To of Them, Ape Island, all 1972—further stymied any straightforwardly polemical takeaway.
—
Jeremy Lybarger,
Artforum,
2 June 2026
Adjective
For every moment of slapstick body comedy, there is an equally devastating scene of heartbreak.
—
Luke Chinman,
PEOPLE,
2 June 2026
Performers were often white people who donned blackface to mock Black people through song, dance and slapstick comedy.
—
A.d. Carson,
The Conversation,
6 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for slapstick
Recent Examples of Synonyms for slapstick
Noun
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The apocalyptic horror comedy Zombieland (2009) was a box office hit.
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The ceremony was officiated by friend of the couple Adam Sandler, whom Travis Kelce starred alongside in the 2025 comedy Happy Gilmore 2.
Noun
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The clowning might be a little too effortful.
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As the race unfolds in real time, there’s clowning, collisions, sabotage, surprises, comedy, chaos and more.
Adjective
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Dujardin and Dana have fine chemistry, but Dujardin’s best chemistry is with Ficarra, an Italian comic with exaggerated features and a love for the zanier aspects of the story.
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Big Brother has certainly had a zany cast of characters over the years, but the characters that really matter are the casts themselves.
Noun
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And yet for God’s sake, just look at the man—at his dispiriting attempts at humor, his weirdly off-putting outfits, his incessant posting of banalities and faux profundities and extreme-right disinformation on social media.
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But what keeps this show on my perpetual rewatch list is its humor, heart and endless humanity.
Noun
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Oh, but the Padres manager was ready with the joking last night.
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Still, Yoon’s joking somehow lightens the mood.
Adjective
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Martin showed that even a clownish gentleman with a pure heart could woo someone like Tisha Campbell’s Gina.
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The Black characters that appeared on-screen closely resembled the clownish stereotypes popularized by the minstrels.
Noun
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Beneath its gleeful barrage of kink, karaoke, and absurdist comedy lies a sharp satire of exclusion, identity, and liberation within contemporary Queer culture.
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After the White House initially defended the post as satire, the video in question was deleted after a backlash including from some Republicans.
Noun
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Without Roberts in charge, expect the political and racial buffoonery to creep back into the conversation at ESPN.
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The show, with its interest in corporate buffoonery, doesn’t quite manage to hand-wave away the queasy implications.
Cite this Entry
“Slapstick.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/slapstick. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.
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