Badinage

//ˌbɑd.ɪˈnɑʒ// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Playful raillery; banter. countable, uncountable

    "I am persuaded, if all gay badinage were prefaced by an explanation, it would be infinitely better received."

  2. 2
    frivolous banter wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    To engage in badinage or playful banter.

Synonyms

All synonyms
backchatbanterchaffchaffingexchangefooling

Example

More examples

"I am persuaded, if all gay badinage were prefaced by an explanation, it would be infinitely better received."

Etymology

Borrowed from French badinage, from the verb badiner (“jest, joke”) from badin (“playful”), from Occitan badar (“gape”). Distantly related to abash.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.