no laughing matter
Not at all funny
Something serious that shouldn't be treated lightly or joked about.
The phrase typically pushes back against dismissiveness: Food allergies are no laughing matter.
It can sound slightly old-fashioned or emphatic, often used when someone fears their concern isn't being taken seriously enough.
- importantOf great significance
- seriousWeighty and requiring attention
- dead seriousAbsolutely not joking
- no jokeEmphatic assertion of sincerity
- concernTroubled interest in something
sobering · crucial · life or death · gravity · solemnity · earnestness · worry · urgent · dire · dire straits · critical · somberness · momentous · weighty · heavy heart · anxiety · significance · severity
- serious expressionsno joke, dead serious, I mean it, seriously, in earnest
- laughtergiggling, chuckling, snickering, giggles, chortling
no laughing matterno big deal
Inconsequential matter
child's play · small potatoes · joke · laughable · funny
no laughing matterlaughable
Worthy of derision
comic relief · funny business · good for a laugh · comedy · jest
laugh, laughing, matter, laughs, laughed, laughable, laughably, laughter, laugher