humor
What provokes laughter
Humor is the quality that makes something funny or amusing, or the ability to perceive and enjoy what's funny: She has a great sense of humor.
It also means a mood or state of mind: He was in good humor after the promotion.
To humor someone is to indulge them, going along with what they want even if you disagree: Just humor me and try it.
In older medical theory, the four humors—blood, phlegm, yellow bile, black bile—were bodily fluids thought to determine temperament, which is why humor came to mean mood.
Vocal expression of amusement
- funninessQuality of being amusing
- jokesHumorous remarks or stories
- comedyWork meant to amuse
- gigglesShort, silly laughs
chuckles · silliness · hilarity · merriment · glee · levity · mirth · joking
Mental quickness and skill
- wordplayVerbal wit techniques
- banterPlayful, teasing exchange
- quipsBrief witty remarks
- punsJokes using sound similarities
sarcasm · irony · wisecracks · drollery · repartee · one-liners · zingers · bon mots
Exaggerated physical humor
- farceAbsurd, laughable situation
- parodySatirical imitation
- sketchHasty informal drawing
- improvUnscripted comedic performance
satire · absurdist · surreal · observational · physical comedy · screwball · lowbrow · highbrow
Cheerfully optimistic temperament
- melancholicInclined toward reflective sorrow
- phlegmaticUnemotionally calm, slow-reacting
- cholericEasily provoked to anger
- bileLiver-made digestive fluid
blood · black bile · yellow bile · Hippocrates · Galen · bodily fluids · medieval medicine · imbalance
Prevailing emotional condition
- dispositionInherent character or arrangement
- temperState of mind
- spiritsLiquor or apparitions
- frame of mindOne's current mental attitude
state of mind · equanimity · demeanor · outlook · attitude · composure · nature · character
Satisfy a craving
- accommodateProvide for or adjust
- gratifyGive satisfaction to
- appeaseSatisfy to restore calm
- placateLessen someone's anger
oblige · pamper · cater to · go along with · give in to · tolerate · permit · allow
laughter
Vocal expression of amusement
giggles · chuckles · silliness · hilarity · merriment · glee · levity · mirth · joking · jesting
cleverness
Mental quickness and skill
puns · sarcasm · irony · wisecracks · drollery · repartee · one-liners · zingers · bon mots · witticism
slapstick
Exaggerated physical humor
improv · satire · absurdist · surreal · observational · physical comedy · screwball · lowbrow · highbrow · cringe comedy
sanguine
Cheerfully optimistic temperament
- melancholicInclined toward reflective sorrow
- phlegmaticUnemotionally calm, slow-reacting
- cholericEasily provoked to anger
bile · blood · black bile · yellow bile · Hippocrates · Galen · bodily fluids · medieval medicine · imbalance · bloodletting
mood
Prevailing emotional condition
- dispositionInherent character or arrangement
- temperState of mind
- spiritsLiquor or apparitions
frame of mind · state of mind · equanimity · demeanor · outlook · attitude · composure · nature · character
indulge
Satisfy a craving
- accommodateProvide for or adjust
- gratifyGive satisfaction to
- appeaseSatisfy to restore calm
placate · oblige · pamper · cater to · go along with · give in to · tolerate · permit · allow · mollify
- comedycomedy, jokes, puns, sarcasm, stand-up
- conversationlistening, talk, talking, chat, speaking
- funamusement, entertainment, excitement, joy, merriment
- social interactiongreeting, hello, goodbye, hi, bye
- character traitspersonality, virtue, temperament, honor, disposition
- human traitskindness, compassion, empathy, generosity, creativity
humorseriousness
Earnest, weighty demeanor
solemnity · drama · earnestness · gravitas · solemnness
humorhumorlessness
Lack of comedic sense
seriousness · solemnity · somberness · grimness · sternness
- sense of humorCapacity for amusement
- dark humorComedy about taboo subjects
- dry humorUnderstated, expressionless comedy
- absurdist humorComedy rooted in meaninglessness
- humorous talesAmusing fictional accounts
- bathroom humor
humorous, humid, humidity, humorless, humorist, good-humored, humored, humour, humoring