humour
noun · verb
Simple meaning
Being amusing, comical.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
hyoomerSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈhjumɚ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
uncountable
The quality of being amusing, comical, funny.
uncountable
A mood, especially a bad mood; a temporary state of mind or disposition brought upon by an event; an abrupt illogical inclination or whim.
verb
transitive
To pacify by indulging.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The quality of being amusing, comical, funny.
Used this way, humour is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly warm, approving pull. Keep it for friendly, informal settings.
- Emotional tone
- Positive
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Playful
- Usage feel
- Playful and informal
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A cheerful and agreeable mood.
An angry and disagreeable mood.
The trait of appreciating (and being able to express) the humorous.
The limpid fluid within the eyeball between the cornea and the lens.
The clear colorless transparent jelly that fills the posterior chamber of the eyeball.
The juxtaposition of morbid and farcical elements (in writing or drama) to give a disturbing effect.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.