tongue-in-cheek
adjective · adverb
Simple meaning
Not intended seriously.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
tuhngihncheekSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈtʌŋɪntʃik
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.
adjective
idiomatic
Not intended seriously; jocular or humorous.
adverb
With irony.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Typical Use
- Rare
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Not intended seriously; jocular or humorous.
Used this way, tongue-in-cheek is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly warm, approving pull. Keep it for friendly, informal settings.
- Emotional tone
- Positive
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Gentle
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Playful
- Usage feel
- Playful and informal
Nearby words
- humourous , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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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.