quip
Americannoun
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quips
plural
verb (used without object)
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quips,
present (3rd person singular)
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quipped,
past participle, past
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quipping
present participle
noun
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a sarcastic or cutting remark; gibe
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a witty or clever saying
a merry quip
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archaic another word for quibble
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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quipsimple
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quipssimple
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have quippedperfect
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has quippedperfect
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am quippingprogressive
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are quippingprogressive
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is quippingprogressive
-
have been quippingperfect progressive
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has been quippingperfect progressive
Past
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quippedsimple
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had quippedperfect
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was quippingprogressive
-
were quippingprogressive
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had been quippingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of quip
1525–35; back formation from quippy quip < Latin quippe indeed
Explanation
A quip — a short, witty comment — can be pleasant, wise, or sarcastic, but usually carries an element of humor. A quip is a witty or clever remark that sounds spur-of-the-moment. A successful quip must sound offhand, as though it were an afterthought, even if the speaker has been honing the statement for days. Dorothy Parker was a famous writer known for her quick quips, such as, "The best way to keep children home is to make the home atmosphere pleasant — and let the air out of the tires."
Vocabulary lists containing quip
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The quip got a mild chuckle out of Mastro, though not much more.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026
However, when Minton Beddoes noted his almost 250 million followers on X at one point during the interview, Musk was quick to quip: "Popular guy".
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
If the Wayans were able to slip in a joke about Taylor, why didn’t they cut a separate quip about horror never winning Oscars, when Amy Madigan won for “Weapons” the same night?
From Salon ● Jun. 11, 2026
The movie works backward from a famous 1961 Eisenhower quip to JFK that attributed his success in Normandy, France, to the Allies having “better meteorologists than the Germans.”
From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2026
He smiled archly, as if he had just thought up this quip he had been making for weeks.
From "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez
As the AI analyst and podcaster Tom Reed quips: “Even a 100% success rate at predicting the tokens of a Robert Caro biography doesn’t generalize to becoming POTUS.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
“I’ve sold solar power to hundreds of people in the L.A. area,” she quips.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026
The actor Peter Coyote resisted: “When a Buddhist is thinking about shooting out traffic lights, it’s time to leave,” he quips.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2026
The British adventurer makes her acrobatic moves against a background of realistic graphics, complete with her trademark sarcastic quips.
From Barron's ● Sep. 2, 2026
“This is just for the employees. My boss’s office is near the front entrance; it’s bigger and doesn’t look like the perfect space to interrogate someone,” he quips.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
“If it’s 7 in the morning, then why aren’t you bringing your coffee?” quipped Alisa Cohn, an executive coach and author in New York City.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
“Usually when people get 25 years older, the show goes slower,” Michaels quipped.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2026
O’Neill, who served as House speaker from 1977 to 1987, famously quipped that all politics is local.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026
Rhys quipped that those people were "predominantly our parents".
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026
“The only bad luck comes from your terrible breath,” quipped a voice from behind.
From "The Marvellers" by Dhonielle Clayton
Albanese took to the stage at that event to declare "Modi is the Boss", quipping that his crowd-pulling power eclipsed even that of US rock icon Bruce Springsteen.
From Barron's ● Jul. 8, 2026
His bespectacled, quipping presence lent the show some book-world class, the new medium poaching prestige from the old.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 30, 2026
This achievement is all the more remarkable considering that, in the next theater over, Fanning was punching, kicking and quipping in “Predator: Badlands.”
From Salon ● Jan. 24, 2026
Taraji P. Henson, Lala Anthony and Keke Palmer also weighed in with positive reinforcement, with Palmer quipping, “Now I’m mad cause they ain’t sent me my pictures.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 4, 2025
Or, as my husband Steve is fond of quipping, a "balanced meal" has four colors on every plate: something red, something green, something white and something yellow.
From How and When to Be Your Own Doctor by Steve Solomon
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
