applause line
Designed for clapping
An applause line is a statement in a speech designed to prompt audience applause—typically a punchy declaration of shared values or an attack on a common enemy.
Politicians deploy them strategically: She hit all the applause lines about family values and fiscal responsibility.
The term often carries a faint note of cynicism, suggesting calculation over sincerity.
- standing ovationApplause while risen
- standing OUpright audience tribute
- punchlineHumor's final delivery
- crowdLarge public gathering
- cheerJoyfulness or encouragement
roar · clapping · zinger · soundbite · podium · rally · rhetoric · political theater · stump speech · politician · thunderous · audience · call and response · ovation · pause · timing · delivery · mic drop
- vocal expressionscheering, exclamation, shout, yell, holler
- 20th-century oratoryfamous speeches, rhetorical devices, speechwriting, debate, elocution
- campaign jargonstump speech, talking points, sound bites, soundbite, soundbites
- speechesspeech, addresses, historic speeches, lecture, soliloquy
- rhetoricrhetoric, persuasion, oratory, argumentation, debate
- Debate Winsmic drop, checkmate, comeback, rebuttal, counterpoint
applause linebomb
Explosive device or disaster
dead silence · awkward pause · dead air · awkward silence · flop
applause, line, applaud, applauds, applauded, applauding, lines, lined, lining