semiserious
1
5.4
Partly joking and partly about real things
- adjective
- /ˌsɛmɪˈsɪriəs/
:
semiserio
- During the debate, his tone was semiserious, cleverly mixing humor with valid arguments.
Examples
-
His question tried to be hostile, but ended semiserious.
Fiction book (1990) -
She told a semiserious joke about her job, making everyone laugh while conveying the truth about its challenges.
-
In their semiserious conversation, they touched on important issues but maintained a light-hearted approach.
Synonyms
1
5.3
A partly funny style that mixes light humor with serious parts
leans more toward seriousness while keeping a playful not fully joking tone
Antonyms
How Serious
Surface Forms
semiserious positive
Morphology
Etymology
The word semiserious combines semi- meaning 'half' and serious. Think of semicircle, where semi- tells you something is 'half', so semiserious means partly serious and partly joking.