as in kidding
marked by or expressive of mild or good-natured teasing
grinned and gave him a joking nudge with my elbow
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
1
as in funning
to make jokes
he was known for his ability to joke about his lack of anything resembling a social life
Synonyms & Similar Words
2
as in teasing
to make fun of in a good-natured way
oh, don't get offended, I was just joking you
Synonyms & Similar Words
as in jesting
Related Words
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Recent Examples of joking
Armon Sadler, VIBE.com, 15 Oct. 2025
And their joking comments about their relationship never help the matter.
—Lizzie Lanuza, StyleCaster, 15 Oct. 2025
Our days starting with coffee in the makeup trailer, laughing and joking, right through to the very last day of filming.
—Giana Levy, Variety, 11 Oct. 2025
Only an Aries, like Lily, can take Barney’s jabs in a joking way.
—Lisa Stardust, PEOPLE, 19 Sep. 2025
When Peanut pulled his second escape act, his owners knew where to look and handled Peanut's disappearance in a joking manner.
—Michael Nied, People.com, 2 Sep. 2025
Multiple outlets that examined the reporting identified the claim as unverified and labeled the story a hoax; Colbert had previously made a joking on-air reference to streaming platforms but had not announced any deal with Netflix.
—Megan Cartwright, MSNBC Newsweek, 1 Sep. 2025
But while the ads are laugh-out-loud funny, the product is anything but a joking matter.
—Jean E. Palmieri, Footwear News, 25 Aug. 2025
Dave Smith, Fortune, 23 Oct. 2025
Altman wasn't joking about the price of politeness.
—Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 21 Oct. 2025
Plenty of us even tempted fate by joking about it.
—Sean McIndoe, New York Times, 17 Oct. 2025
While joking with Meyers, Swift revealed her fiancé, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, made a massive mix-up at one of her Eras Tour shows.
—Rebecca Cohen, NBC news, 10 Oct. 2025
Sanders, who has been at Colorado since 2022 after two seasons at Jackson State University, could be seen in his son’s YouTube video joking around with his family while laying in a hospital bed on Tuesday night.
—Sean Neumann, PEOPLE, 8 Oct. 2025
The TikTok video garnered numerous comments, with some who missed that Dom was joking and trolling the kid, and others praising him for staying in character.
—Matthew Couden, MSNBC Newsweek, 8 Oct. 2025
When the sketch came to an end, Jost and Che immediately began joking about Yang's wardrobe malfunction.
—Shania Russell, Entertainment Weekly, 5 Oct. 2025
For myself and many of my classmates, the four-story Forever 21 in Times Square was the most exciting part of our senior-class trip to New York City—not joking!
—Kaitlyn Tiffany, The Atlantic, 18 Mar. 2025
Adjective
Jones eventually got into his joking bag, and Bleek took that opportunity to seriously set the record straight one last time.
—Armon Sadler, VIBE.com, 15 Oct. 2025
And their joking comments about their relationship never help the matter.
—Lizzie Lanuza, StyleCaster, 15 Oct. 2025
Our days starting with coffee in the makeup trailer, laughing and joking, right through to the very last day of filming.
—Giana Levy, Variety, 11 Oct. 2025
Only an Aries, like Lily, can take Barney’s jabs in a joking way.
—Lisa Stardust, PEOPLE, 19 Sep. 2025
When Peanut pulled his second escape act, his owners knew where to look and handled Peanut's disappearance in a joking manner.
—Michael Nied, People.com, 2 Sep. 2025
Multiple outlets that examined the reporting identified the claim as unverified and labeled the story a hoax; Colbert had previously made a joking on-air reference to streaming platforms but had not announced any deal with Netflix.
—Megan Cartwright, MSNBC Newsweek, 1 Sep. 2025
But while the ads are laugh-out-loud funny, the product is anything but a joking matter.
—Jean E. Palmieri, Footwear News, 25 Aug. 2025
Noun
Mackey reached out to Warren Buffett, who declined, joking about the poor brand fit between his Dairy Queen ownership and his junk food preferences.
—Dave Smith, Fortune, 23 Oct. 2025
Altman wasn't joking about the price of politeness.
—Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 21 Oct. 2025
Plenty of us even tempted fate by joking about it.
—Sean McIndoe, New York Times, 17 Oct. 2025
While joking with Meyers, Swift revealed her fiancé, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, made a massive mix-up at one of her Eras Tour shows.
—Rebecca Cohen, NBC news, 10 Oct. 2025
Sanders, who has been at Colorado since 2022 after two seasons at Jackson State University, could be seen in his son’s YouTube video joking around with his family while laying in a hospital bed on Tuesday night.
—Sean Neumann, PEOPLE, 8 Oct. 2025
The TikTok video garnered numerous comments, with some who missed that Dom was joking and trolling the kid, and others praising him for staying in character.
—Matthew Couden, MSNBC Newsweek, 8 Oct. 2025
When the sketch came to an end, Jost and Che immediately began joking about Yang's wardrobe malfunction.
—Shania Russell, Entertainment Weekly, 5 Oct. 2025
For myself and many of my classmates, the four-story Forever 21 in Times Square was the most exciting part of our senior-class trip to New York City—not joking!
—Kaitlyn Tiffany, The Atlantic, 18 Mar. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for joking
Verb
-
Just before Thursday’s taping Pence and Emanual met outside the greenroom, and each greeted each other warmly, quickly asking each other questions about their kids before anything else, while kidding with each other about a long unpaid bet.—
Ted Johnson,
Deadline,
10 Oct. 2025
-
Okay, kidding about that last part.—
Elizabeth Logan,
Glamour,
7 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
Bieber made his debut on Twitch yesterday with a stream that included footage of the singer playing basketball, shooting pool with friends and teasing his upcoming Coachella dates.—
Gil Kaufman,
Billboard,
23 Oct. 2025
-
Samsung’s first Galaxy XR headset is now official, but that hasn’t stopped the company teasing future AR products.—
PC Magazine,
PC Magazine,
22 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
Justine Lupe plays Joanne’s sarcastic best friend, sister, sometimes-advisor and podcast co-host Morgan Williams.—
Skyler Trepel,
PEOPLE,
25 Oct. 2025
-
As a model named Carl, stuck in a relationship corrupted by microcelebrity and Instagram view counts, Dickinson ticks with exasperation and sarcastic logic, his jaw clenched, his eyes wide and staring.—
Carrie Battan,
Vulture,
6 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
The other side in a debate with common sense is nonsense.—
Danielle Kurtzleben,
NPR,
22 Oct. 2025
-
That kind of no-nonsense mentality cuts right through all the nonsense and puts the focus on the work.—
Tony Maglio,
HollywoodReporter,
21 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
To get a sense of his whole deal, look no further than the half-mocking, half-earnest title of his latest album, Country!—
Jonathan Bernstein,
Rolling Stone,
23 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
In a YouTube video, the robot’s head glances around with a quizzical expression and blinks in a way that is eerily lifelike.—
Mrigakshi Dixit,
Interesting Engineering,
22 Sep. 2025
-
Louie is summoned to the apartment of Joe Black, a higher-up gangster played by John Malkovich with a manner so quizzical yet threatening that his voice just about quivers with unexpressed rage.—
Owen Gleiberman,
Variety,
3 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Joking.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/joking. Accessed 29 Oct. 2025.
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