to poke fun at
23
3.4
- phrasal verb
- /poʊk fʌn æt/
- Offensive
:
burlarse de
- I know that I think it's healthy to be able to poke fun at your own religiosity.
Remember, don't hurt feelings, but just poke fun at her in a special way.
- Remember, don't hurt feelings, but just poke fun at her in a special way.
- But they won't let you get too tall, so they will often poke fun at your accomplishments.
- And this game was my way of celebrating that and also poking fun at it, too.
- They then engage with you as Doctor Crum, give you feedback, poke fun at you.
- Comedy is an acid that corrodes, and it doesn't just corrode by, you know, poking fun at the powerful or something like that.
- Imagine the white comedian who satirizes that, pokes fun at that, and in poking fun at that says the infamous N word.
- They poked fun at Kamala Harris and at Trump.
- X perspective on the world of these slackers kind of sitting around poking fun at everything that was going on.
- I'm not allowed to because I've tried to poke fun at being a dumb kid.
- So it's it's pretty transparent who he's poking fun at in that.
- And I can give the I, I can be the Dancing Bear that you poke fun at.
- And so it's, it's easy to poke fun at that, but I, I try not to because it just who gave them that expectation?
- One is you've, you make fun of and poke fun at spirituality, especially faux LA spirituality.
- But you realize on some level Mel's style was always poking fun at the powerful and the rich and as like stupid and greedy.
Examples
-
Don't poke fun at me.
-
He'll laugh at our acting and poke fun at us later.
-
And then we poke fun at it all.
-
Are you poking fun at me?
-
Even in my Southern Literature class, my professor poked fun at themes she brought to our attention.
Blog text (12) -
Remember, don't hurt feelings, but just poke fun at her in a special way.
-
Don't be too quick to poke fun at something you know nothing about.
-
True, Americans like politicians who poke fun at themselves.
Academic text (1997) -
Please don't poke fun at a poor girl like me, ma'am.
-
It's important to poke fun at your friends in a lighthearted way so that everyone enjoys the joke.
Synonyms
∞
3.5
To tease someone in a friendly, playful way
456
2.0
To make fun of someone in a mean way to show they are silly
307
2.3
Laugh at someone or say things that make them feel embarrassed
108
4.6
To make someone look silly in a mean way so others laugh at them
93
5.8
To mock someone again and again to make them angry or upset
80
2.9
Say something funny, often unkind, about someone or something
33
5.5
To make fun of someone in a joking way, often in public
25
3.9
To make jokes about someone to make them look silly
21
6.7
To treat something as silly and show no respect
11
5.7
To say or do something as a joke to make people laugh
9
6.4
To make a short teasing or critical comment about someone
7
6.5
Make fun of someone in a friendly, playful way
7
9.3
To tease or criticize someone in a friendly way
4
8.1
To make quick, unfair critical remarks about someone or their ideas
2
3.8
To tease someone in a friendly, joking way
2
7.5
To laugh at someone and say unkind things about them
1
8.1
To tease someone in a playful way
1
9.1
To tease someone by making jokes about them in a friendly way
1
8.5
To make cruel or mocking remarks about someone
1
9.0
To tease or nag someone, often in a playful way
1
8.7
To make a playful joke or trick someone to make them laugh
1
4.1
To tell someone something that is not true to make them laugh
To tease someone by joking about them in a friendly way
Tease someone by making jokes about them
To make fun of someone in a playful way
Laugh at someone or treat something serious as a joke
To tease or nag someone in a way that annoys them
Antonyms
How Mocking
- Offensive
108
4.6
- Offensive
209
3.4
- Offensive
23
3.4
17
4.0
- Informal
∞
3.5
Surface Forms
Morphology
Although 'fun' signals amusement and 'poke' suggests a light jab, the combined phrase 'poke fun at' has an idiomatic sense of 'mocking' that is not a straightforward compositional reading of the parts. The verb + 'fun' + preposition pattern does not transparently yield 'make jokes about someone,' so a B1 learner who only knows the constituents would likely need prior exposure to infer the exact meaning.
Etymology
Poke fun at comes from the picture of someone giving a small, teasing poke to point at a person and make others laugh (fun). So, poke fun at means 'to make jokes about someone', sometimes playfully and sometimes to mock them.