Clownship

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The role or art of a clown. uncountable

    "When the miracle plays became too comic for the taste of the bishops, a generation of lay showmen carried on the tradition of clownship. The combination of showman and dramatist did not outlive the Elizabethans; […]"

Example

More examples

"When the miracle plays became too comic for the taste of the bishops, a generation of lay showmen carried on the tradition of clownship. The combination of showman and dramatist did not outlive the Elizabethans; […]"

Etymology

From clown + -ship.

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