dark joke
- noun
- /dɑrk dʒoʊk/
- Informal
:
broma negra
- During the discussion about grief, he made a dark joke about how laughter can lighten the burden of loss.
So roast normally consists of like a lot of very, very dark jokes.
- So roast normally consists of like a lot of very, very dark jokes.
- They're usually joking around and they're dark jokes.
Examples
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His dark joke about a tragic event received mixed reactions, as some found it funny while others thought it was inappropriate.
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Also feel free to make dark jokes about this, it's my coping mechanism.
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I what happens is from my point of view for me, is when I make a dark joke that is about the worst thing.
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But then she would throw in some dark joke... about being depressed.
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A pretty dark joke, to be sure, but I was completely suckered.
Blog text (29) -
Medical personnel are bound by legal documents and orders, and the DNR tattoo is mostly a very dark joke.
Blog text (20) -
A dark joke.
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One of the dark jokes circulating through the Pentagon is that if a terrorist wants to smuggle a weapon of mass destruction into the United States, the best place to hide it would be in a shipment of illicit drugs.
Academic text (2000) -
At the party, someone shared a dark joke about the absurdities of life that made everyone uncomfortable but also relieved the tension.
Synonyms
12
7.9
A joke about cruel or shocking things that many people find upsetting
3
6.5
Jokes about serious or sad topics that make people laugh
3
8.4
Jokes about very serious or sad events that help people cope
How Dark
Surface Forms
Morphology
The adjective 'dark' (grim, morbid) straightforwardly modifies 'joke' (an amusing remark), so the combined meaning — a joke about grim or taboo subjects — is directly derivable from the parts. This compositional pattern is common cross-linguistically, so a B1 learner who knows both words will very likely infer the intended sense.
Etymology
The phrase dark joke comes from the image of dark as something gloomy or like the night and joke as a funny remark. So a dark joke is a joke that treats 'serious' or 'taboo' things in a gloomy or shocking way, often to help people deal with hard events.