zinger
noun
Simple meaning
A surprising or unusually pointed, humorous and impressive insult or insulting quip.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
zingerSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈzɪŋɚ
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
informal
A surprising or unusually pointed, humorous and impressive insult or insulting quip.
informal
An outstanding, energetic and surprising thing or person.
A piece of food or drink that is tart and stimulating.
A name used for several KFC products (e.g. Zinger Box).
informal
An event that when experienced leaves the witness dazed, either physically or metaphorically.
informal
A very rapidly moving object, especially one that is thrown.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Rare
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A surprising or unusually pointed, humorous and impressive insult or insulting quip.
Used this way, zinger is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly warm, approving pull. It turns up most in everyday conversation and social media or informal writing contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Positive
- Formality
- Casual
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Playful
- Usage feel
- Casual and conversational
Where it naturally appears
- Everyday conversation
- Social media/informal writing
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use zinger
- “He always greeted me with a new zinger.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
A brief high-pitched buzzing or humming sound.
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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.