Dictionary

clowncel en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (US) audio

Etymology

From clown + -cel.

Meanings

1. (qualifier:incel slang) An incel who identifies with the Joker from the Batman franchise.
   • There is a key difference here, however, in that clowncels seem to replace the self-pitying discourse common in incel forums with anger towards the rich and the powerful. 2021, Aylin Kuryel, “Looking at and with images: Crowds in Joker, Joker in the crowd”, in Sean Redmond, editor, Breaking Down Joker: Violence, Loneliness, Tragedy, unnumbered page:
   • The thing about Joker that specifically appeals to clowncels is the heroic mirage imparted on the Joker. 2019, Caroline Cabe, "Inside Todd Phillips’ Joker and the Rise of the ‘Clowncel’, The Texas Orator, 22 October 2019
   • As for Joker, after the FBI warned of mass-shooting threats from so-called “Clowncels,” some theaters in the United States banned makeup and costumes during the screening of Phillips’s movie (Margolin and Katersky). 2021 March, Manuel Herrero-Puertas, “Super Whitman 1885”, in Concentric: Literary and Cultural Studies, volume 47, number 1, page 311:

Forms