as in flippant
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Recent Examples of tongue-in-cheek
The tongue-in-cheek beef culminated in a verbal volley at the flag football draft with Gronkowski jawing at Paul while balancing a paper plate stacked with hors d’oeuvres and Paul shouting back over the head of 5-foot-5 comedian Kevin Hart, who somehow found himself in the role of peacemaker.
—
Steve Henson, Los Angeles Times, 20 Mar. 2026
One sheriff’s office in the Florida Panhandle has turned to a tongue-in-cheek scoring system to publicly shame the worst offenders, posting a leaderboard of NCAA college conferences while adding points for each police bust.
—Julia Bonavita, FOXNews.com, 19 Mar. 2026
Her tongue-in-cheek jab spoke to their history as creative partners, and to the fact that Anderson had been nominated 14 times for an Academy Award heading into Sunday night.
—Shirley Li, The Atlantic, 16 Mar. 2026
There is also plenty of room for visual humor here, with an array of comically phallic objects, shapes and even buildings forming a tongue-in-cheek tapestry on the screen.
—Tomris Laffly, Variety, 14 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for tongue-in-cheek
Steve Henson, Los Angeles Times, 20 Mar. 2026
One sheriff’s office in the Florida Panhandle has turned to a tongue-in-cheek scoring system to publicly shame the worst offenders, posting a leaderboard of NCAA college conferences while adding points for each police bust.
—Julia Bonavita, FOXNews.com, 19 Mar. 2026
Her tongue-in-cheek jab spoke to their history as creative partners, and to the fact that Anderson had been nominated 14 times for an Academy Award heading into Sunday night.
—Shirley Li, The Atlantic, 16 Mar. 2026
There is also plenty of room for visual humor here, with an array of comically phallic objects, shapes and even buildings forming a tongue-in-cheek tapestry on the screen.
—Tomris Laffly, Variety, 14 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for tongue-in-cheek
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tongue-in-cheek
Adjective
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During his Monday night Daily Show episode, the political comic blasted the POTUS’ flippant attitude toward his largely unfavorable military decisions in the SWANA region.—
Natalie Oganesyan,
Deadline,
30 Mar. 2026
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Given how flippant Rodgers has been with his decision-making over the last few years, and his insistence that he won’t be bullied into deciding his future on anyone’s timeline but his makes predicting what the four-time MVP will do quite a tough ask.—
Michael Gallagher,
MSNBC Newsweek,
30 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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His posture is authoritative without being imposing, his voice warm without being facetious.—
Roxana Hadadi,
Vulture,
5 Dec. 2025
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Powell was, of course, being facetious, as the low-quality videos featured the actor as a teen running and jumping in the street and lip-syncing to the song while wearing a yacht captain’s hat.—
Rachel DeSantis,
PEOPLE,
17 Nov. 2025
Adjective
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Auriemma has, on occasion, counseled Hurley, which made this role reversal so ironic.—
Dom Amore,
Hartford Courant,
5 Apr. 2026
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In an ironic twist, the American president became the regime’s midwife, forcing the old order to mutate and reinvent itself.—
Boris Muñoz,
Time,
3 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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Nobel Prize–winning economist Milton Friedman, famous for his wry sense of humor, once wrote a book titled There’s No Such Thing as a Free Lunch.—
Encyclopedia Britannica,
Encyclopedia Britannica,
2 Apr. 2026
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There is awe, and sadness, and regret, and wry humor.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
31 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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Like [being in] the worst possible circumstances without giving up, without becoming cynical, without putting your head in the sand.—
James Hibberd,
HollywoodReporter,
7 Apr. 2026
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There, the naïve, bright-eyed woman moves in with a cynical, down-on-his-luck actor (Tituss Burgess), and the two push each other to look at the world in new ways.—
Andrew Walsh,
Entertainment Weekly,
5 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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Though the state is seeing a surface water supply far above average, March’s heat shock has left many less confident about the fate of water supply for the upcoming dry season.—
Chaewon Chung,
Sacbee.com,
1 Apr. 2026
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From December to January, Loni and other cities across northern India routinely grapple with a severe spike in pollution during the cold, dry winter months.—
Esha Mitra,
CNN Money,
1 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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Britannica media editor Kurt Heintz, together with Emily Goldstein and Meg Matthias, is on a mission to spotlight poignant and noteworthy events for every day of the year.—
Encyclopedia Britannica,
Encyclopedia Britannica,
2 Apr. 2026
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It’s collected alongside Mills’ other works, which share the poignant throughline of parenthood and bittersweet hope for the future, plus story notes for further context.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
1 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Tongue-in-cheek.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tongue-in-cheek. Accessed 8 Apr. 2026.
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