clownishly
1
6.4
- adverb
- /ˈklaʊnɪʃli/
:
de manera payasa
- The child danced clownishly, tumbling around the room and making everyone laugh.
Examples
-
A fat tear, blue against the light of the plate on her chest, slips down Robin's face and dangles clownishly from her chin.
Fiction book (1990) -
You're eating a clownishly oversized sandwich.
-
"I fell over, clownishly, I thought, and crawled up beside her.
Fiction book (1990) -
The bike is way too small for him, but some adolescent boys prefer things to be the wrong size, clownishly wrong, if possible.
Fiction book (1999) -
"Reaching for the sky, Pig Iron reeled clownishly off balance.
Fiction book (1990) -
The woman smiles clownishly in her makeup, her hair a sprayed helmet upon her head, pumping her bare feet on the pedals.
Fiction book (1992) -
I'm sure there are complimentary "Yeah, but mine fits in my pocket" and "I can use mine with one hand" arguments that could be had, but let's not dwell on clownishly large screen sizes here.
Blog text (29) -
Griffin went from tolerably good and somewhat rakish to blindingly good and clownishly stereotyped through the arc of the story.
Blog text (7) -
Then Mike leapt up clownishly from his seat near me and, pantomiming alarm as if someone were fleeing a leper, shrieked, "Oh don't take any notice of her!"
Fiction book (1994) -
There was a semi-serious sincerity in his guiding me about on the stone floor, not to mention a thoughtless delight in just being alive, accidentally and clownishly and for no reason alive—the kind of delight you take as a child when you first learn to play a tune with a comb and toilet paper.
Fiction book (2001)
Synonyms
27
2.0
Said or done as a joke and not meant seriously
18
1.4
In a fun, teasing way
11
3.9
In a funny way that makes people laugh
5
3.3
In a funny way that makes people laugh
1
4.2
In a silly, awkward way that looks funny
1
5.9
In a very exaggerated and silly way that does not seem real
1
3.6
To say or do something in a joking way without being serious
1
7.1
In a joking way to make people laugh
In a foolish way to make people laugh
In a silly, funny way that makes people laugh
In a playful joking way to make people laugh
Antonyms
How Silly
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
The word clownishly comes from clown, which long ago meant a 'clumsy' or 'country' person and later became the funny circus performer. The parts -ish and -ly turn that into 'in a clown-like way', so clownishly describes doing something silly or foolish like a clown.