Punning

//ˈpʌnɪŋ// adj, noun, verb

adj, noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The action of the verb to pun. countable, uncountable
  2. 2
    a humorous play on words wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    present participle and gerund of pun form-of, gerund, participle, present
Adjective
  1. 1
    That makes or uses a pun.

    "The spoonerism "Burly Chassis" is a punning reference to Shirley Bassey's voluptuous figure."

Synonyms

All synonyms
acrosticalliterativeanagramassonantchimingcorruption

Example

More examples

"The punning riddle "What's black and white and red all over?" has been kicking around American and British schoolyards since at least the middle of the 1800s."

Related phrases

type punning

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