slapstick Hear it!

slapstick Definition

slap·stick (-stik′)

noun

  1. an implement made of two flat pieces of wood that slap together loudly when hit against something: sometimes used by clowns to strike others with loud, harmless slaps
  2. crude comedy in which the humor depends upon violent activity, horseplay, etc.

adjective

characterized by such comedy

slapstick Synonyms

slapstick

modif.

broad, physical, absurd, droll, comical; see also funny 1.

slapstick Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • have: I wanted to have that slapstick which also deals with very dangerous things.
  • provide: The Captain of the Guard ( Ray Pascoe ) and Lilly Bakewell ( Jimmy Ellis ) provided the slapstick in an hilarious fashion.
  • lace: Like club music, the work repeats, loops and returns over a rhythm of slapstick laced with formal, painterly considerations.
  • add: Add slapstick, surrealism and sci-fi and what more could anyone want?
  • do: At times The Pinhoe Egg was DWJ doing slapstick, with some vividly entertaining scenes.

Adjective modifier

  • pure: There were scenes in there that were pure slapstick, that made me laugh harder and harder as the scene developed.
  • silly: There's nothing necessarily new about that, but the same films often also treat us to moments of transcendentally silly slapstick as well.
  • verbal: Verbal slapstick, visual wisecracks and vertiginous melodrama combine in this very funny staging of the unstageable.
  • good: Thanks to its two stars, plus the best slapstick since I Love Lucy, Laverne & Shirley became a Tuesday night institution.
  • goofy: This is one of those juvenile movies that's full of goofy slapstick and gooey sentiment.
  • zany: Maybe fans of zany slapstick will find it less wearing than I did at times.

Modifies a noun

  • comedy: Moments of slapstick comedy are silly in the extreme.
  • antic: Much fairy mischief ensues, mischief which turns the lives of the mortals upside down with slapstick antics.
  • humor: The dame is crucial to pantomime's slapstick humor.
  • routine: The man's stance suggests that he is engaged in a slapstick comedy routine, kicking the backside of the hapless fellow in front.
  • scene: His slapstick scene with Little John ( Philip Bosworth ) was hilarious.
  • humor: Mark Twain does not write with the slapstick humor which today's youth find so very funny.

Preposition: in

  • pantomime: I found it one of the funnier pieces of slapstick in this pantomime.

Browse dictionary entries near slapstick

  1. slapjack
  2. slapdash
  3. slap-up
  4. slap shot
  5. slap-happy
  6. slap down
  7. slap-bang
  8. slap and tickle
  9. slap
  10. slantwise
  1. slash
  2. slash-and-burn
  3. slash pine
  4. slash pocket
  5. slashing
  6. slat
  7. slate
  8. slater
  9. slather
  10. slating