knee-slapper
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of knee-slapper
An Americanism dating back to 1965–70
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.
I’m not sure a Girl Scout selling cookies door to door being chased by male specters with tongues hanging out is quite the knee-slapper it is intended to be.
From Washington Post • Nov. 4, 2018
“I feel like that’s what it’s been since we got traded over. It’s funny. We’re out there laughing like, ‘just another knee-slapper.’
From Washington Post • Apr. 20, 2018
Senate in Colorado who spoke at the convention, cracked this knee-slapper.
From Slate • Jul. 28, 2016
That’s about as close to a knee-slapper as he came, and when he began on current affairs he quickly pivoted away: “I don’t want to get into that right now,” he demurred.
From New York Times • Jan. 11, 2015
Dear Enthusiastic, It is impossible to make the case that “Did you hear the one about the land rights litigation?” is a knee-slapper.
From Slate • Jan. 8, 2015
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.
