facetious

facetious Audio pronunciation

 
adjective | fuh-SEE-shuss
 
What It Means
 
Facetious is used to describe something, such as a remark or behavior, that is meant to be humorous or funny but is sometimes instead annoying, silly, or improper. It can also be used to describe someone who is joking, often implying that they are doing so inappropriately.
 
// The emcee delivered several facetious quips throughout the night that the audience found in poor taste.
 
// I was just being facetious—I didn't mean it seriously.


facetious
adjective
fa·;ce·;tious f;-;s;-sh;s
Synonyms of facetious
1
: joking or jesting often inappropriately : waggish
just being facetious
2
: meant to be humorous or funny : not serious
a facetious remark
facetiously adverb
facetiousness noun

Frequently Asked Questions
Is facetious insulting?

It is not inherently insulting to say that someone is being facetious (although it may imply dubious or ill-timed attempts at wit or humor). The word comes from the Latin facetia, meaning "jest."

What is the difference between facetious and sarcastic?

Facetious may be defined as "joking or jesting often inappropriately" or "not serious." Sarcastic, on the other hand, while still concerned with humor, tends to imply a more caustic or biting quality that is often intended to cause pain.

Is facetious the same as facetiousness?

Facetious is an adjective ("not serious," "waggish"), while facetiousness is a noun ("the state or quality of being facetious"). The adverb form is facetiously.

Synonyms
clever
humorous
jocular
smart
witty
Choose the Right Synonym for facetious

witty, humorous, facetious, jocular, jocose mean provoking or intended to provoke laughter.

witty suggests cleverness and quickness of mind.

a witty remark
humorous applies broadly to anything that evokes usually genial laughter and may contrast with witty in suggesting whimsicality or eccentricity.

humorous anecdotes
facetious stresses a desire to produce laughter and may be derogatory in implying dubious or ill-timed attempts at wit or humor.

facetious comments
jocular implies a usually habitual fondness for jesting and joking.

a jocular fellow
jocose is somewhat less derogatory than facetious in suggesting habitual waggishness or playfulness.

jocose proposals
Examples of facetious in a Sentence
The portrait is good, the prose embroidered here with the facetious parlance—is that the word?—of clubs.
—V. S. Pritchett, "Club and Country," 1949, in A Man of Letters,  1985
Nor was Liebling seriously asserting that his facetious bit of investigation into Tin Pan Alley history constituted a refutation of Sartre's philosophy.
—Raymond Sokolov, Wayward Reporter, 1980
… old ladies shrivelling to nothing in a forest of flowers and giant facetious get-well cards …
—John Updike, Trust Me, 1962
the essay is a facetious commentary on the absurdity of war as a solution for international disputes
a facetious and tasteless remark about people in famine-stricken countries being spared the problem of overeating
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Trump has been pushing an imperialist vision that includes U.S. acquisition of Greenland, Panama, and — on a more facetious note — Canada.
—Andrew Solender, Axios, 7 Jan. 2025
That quip no longer seems so facetious as a son of exiles who fled their homeland prepares to become America’s top diplomat.
—Patrick Oppmann, CNN, 8 Dec. 2024
Some also expressed facetious disdain for how much money Downey must have accepted to come back to Marvel, suspecting a lucrative deal.
—Angela Yang, NBC News, 28 July 2024
Maher’s power is the fascination his facetious commentary holds for other, less secure pundits.
—Armond White, National Review, 7 June 2024

Word History
Etymology
borrowed from Middle French facetieux, facecieux, from facetie "joke, jesting remark" (borrowed from Latin fac;tia, fac;tiae "cleverness, wit," in plural sense, "amusing things, jests") + -eux (going back to Latin -;sus -ous) — more at facetiae

First Known Use
1594, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Time Traveler
The first known use of facetious was in 1594
See more words from the same year