1
as in joke
something said or done to cause laughter
the film's sophisticated drolleries will elicit smiles and chuckles even upon repeated viewings
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2
as in humor
the amusing quality or element in something
though generally serious, the novel about a seriously dysfunctional family is not without drollery
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Recent Examples of drollery
He is played by Ethan Hawke, a mainstay of Linklater’s movies, in a remarkable amalgam of bitterness, exuberance, drollery, tenderness, frustration, and tremendous artistic passion.
—
Justin Chang, The New Yorker, 27 Feb. 2025
Matthew Rankin’s latest surreal comedy, between hilarious drollery and bitter disillusionment.
—J. Kim Murphy, Variety, 18 Dec. 2024
He is played by Ethan Hawke, a mainstay of Linklater’s movies, in a remarkable amalgam of bitterness, exuberance, drollery, tenderness, frustration, and tremendous artistic passion.
—Justin Chang, The New Yorker, 27 Feb. 2025
Matthew Rankin’s latest surreal comedy, between hilarious drollery and bitter disillusionment.
—J. Kim Murphy, Variety, 18 Dec. 2024
His ambition and synthetic public persona are the butt of countless withering drolleries.
—Giles Harvey, The New Yorker, 23 Sep. 2024
Griffin’s front-court mate DeAndre Jordan, although deeply intense, mirrored Griffin’s drollery in candid postgame interviews.
—Hanif Abdurraqib, The New Yorker, 3 July 2024
But his method is mostly charging into the fray, shouting battle cries or tossing out Australian drollery.
—David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 15 May 2024
The starry cast runs full force with his nesting-doll plots and deadpan drolleries, the color palette comes saturated in a Pantone riot of blues, pinks and egg-yolk yellows, and the tone flips nimbly from tender to absurd, more Dahl sweetness than arsenic.
—Leah Greenblatt, New York Times, 29 Sep. 2023
Justin Chang, The New Yorker, 27 Feb. 2025
Matthew Rankin’s latest surreal comedy, between hilarious drollery and bitter disillusionment.
—J. Kim Murphy, Variety, 18 Dec. 2024
He is played by Ethan Hawke, a mainstay of Linklater’s movies, in a remarkable amalgam of bitterness, exuberance, drollery, tenderness, frustration, and tremendous artistic passion.
—Justin Chang, The New Yorker, 27 Feb. 2025
Matthew Rankin’s latest surreal comedy, between hilarious drollery and bitter disillusionment.
—J. Kim Murphy, Variety, 18 Dec. 2024
His ambition and synthetic public persona are the butt of countless withering drolleries.
—Giles Harvey, The New Yorker, 23 Sep. 2024
Griffin’s front-court mate DeAndre Jordan, although deeply intense, mirrored Griffin’s drollery in candid postgame interviews.
—Hanif Abdurraqib, The New Yorker, 3 July 2024
But his method is mostly charging into the fray, shouting battle cries or tossing out Australian drollery.
—David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 15 May 2024
The starry cast runs full force with his nesting-doll plots and deadpan drolleries, the color palette comes saturated in a Pantone riot of blues, pinks and egg-yolk yellows, and the tone flips nimbly from tender to absurd, more Dahl sweetness than arsenic.
—Leah Greenblatt, New York Times, 29 Sep. 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for drollery
Noun
-
Trump sued Maher in 2013 for $5 million after the comedian made a crass joke about his mother and an orangutan.—
Steff Danielle Thomas,
The Hill,
19 Apr. 2025
-
While Instagram and TikTok chase global virality, Fizz leans hard into hyper relevance: the inside joke, the anonymous confession, the econ final everyone just bombed.—
Ian Shepherd,
Forbes.com,
18 Apr. 2025
Noun
-
For her performance, Clarkson sported a Buffalo Bills jacket — a nod to that day’s guest, Hailee Steinfeld, who is engaged to quarterback Josh Allen — and kept her vocal arrangement free of any of her signature high notes or riffs, letting the humor of Crow’s lyrics speak for itself.—
Hannah Dailey,
Billboard,
9 Apr. 2025
-
Their early short films were made on shoestring budgets, relying on humor and inventive storytelling.—
Raja Krishnamoorthi,
MSNBC Newsweek,
9 Apr. 2025
Noun
-
That sort of showboating elicits laughs from TV audiences, partly because today's younger shoppers are spending less on pricey goods and more on luxury experiences.—
Marco della Cava,
USA Today,
19 Apr. 2025
-
Sharing good laughs goes a long way to strengthening connections and relationships.—
Liz Guthridge,
Forbes.com,
18 Apr. 2025
Noun
-
The irony is that the film’s screenwriter, Sam Stefanak, came from the world of comedy.—
Tim Lammers,
Forbes.com,
15 Apr. 2025
-
The ultimate irony, of course, is that Tennessee actually took the NCAA to court to give Iamaleava the right to receive that first NIL deal.—
Ryan Kartje,
Los Angeles Times,
14 Apr. 2025
Noun
-
In a perfectly coifed wig, with a sly smile and endless witticisms, Snook takes on 26 different roles across the show's nearly two hour runtime.—
Shania Russell,
EW.com,
28 Mar. 2025
-
Throughout, Snook hams for laughs, turning Wilde’s witticisms and epigrams into slapstick.—
Christian Lewis,
Variety,
28 Mar. 2025
Noun
-
Talkback sold to Fremantle (then Pearson Television) and Fincham became CEO of Talkback Thames, which made comedies and the likes of The X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent for ITV and long-running police drama The Bill.—
Jesse Whittock,
Deadline,
10 Apr. 2025
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The comedy special Brett Goldstein: The Second Best Night of Your Life will premiere Saturday, April 26 at 10 pm on HBO (and stream on Max).—
Vlada Gelman,
TVLine,
10 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Drollery.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/drollery. Accessed 24 Apr. 2025.
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