Wordplay

noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A humorous play on words; such plays on words collectively. countable, uncountable

    "Even this modest wordplay was an outlier: Sagers counted only three backronyms across the ’70s and ’80s."

  2. 2
    a humorous play on words wordnet
  3. 3
    A witty verbal exchange; such exchanges collectively. countable, uncountable
  4. 4
    The part of a cryptic clue that indicates but does not define the solution. countable, uncountable

    "delete the T from another part in the wordplay"

Synonyms

All synonyms
punabuse of termsacrosticamphibologismamphibolyanagram

Example

More examples

"Not even his father was spared from his wordplay."

Etymology

From word + play.

Related phrases

play on words

More for "wordplay"

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