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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

one-liner en · NOUN

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ís? Proto-Indo-European *h₁óynos Proto-Germanic *ainaz Proto-West Germanic *ain Old English ān Middle English on English one English line Proto-Indo-European *-yósder. Proto-Italic *-āzios Latin -āriusnom. Latin -āriusbor. Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz Proto-West Germanic *-ārī Old English -ere Middle English -ere English -er English one-liner From one + line + -er.

Meanings

  1. A short joke, especially one of a single sentence.
    • ALMOST without exception, Moore’s narrators have comic yet dark stories to tell: they fire off crisp, De Vriesian one-liners and then, when you least expect it, sneak in wrenching revelations. 1994 October 3, Lorrie Moore, “Briefly Noted”, in The New Yorker, New York, N.Y.: Condé Nast Publications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 17 Mar 2026:
    • Every crass or tone-deaf moment – including a sexual encounter between Eggsy and a socialite, played by Poppy Delevingne, that at best feels entirely misjudged and at worst a complete betrayal of Eggsy’s cheeky but ultimately quite sweet character – is matched by a wonderfully droll one-liner or nugget of razor-sharp satire. 2017 September 19, Gwilym Mumford, “Kingsman: The Golden Circle review – spy sequel reaches new heights of skyscraping silliness”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 01 Jul 2021:
    • witty one-liners
  2. A short remark intended as a sound bite.
  3. A command or small program consisting of a single line of input.
  4. A chat feature on a bulletin board system or web page where users can post a single line of text at a time.

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
one liner alternative lexicographic
one-liners Number=Plur lexicographic

Coordinates

shoutbox · chatbox · tagboard

Relateds

tagline · joke

Translations (11)

pl bon mot (program consisting of a single line) · fi letkaus (short joke) · fr mot d'esprit (short joke) · ru однострочник (program consisting of a single line) · de Einzeiler (short joke) · pl bon mot (short joke) · fr trait (short joke) · fi sutkaus (short joke) · bg остроумие (short joke) · fr bon mot (short joke) · ru остро́та (short joke)