to poke fun
30
3.9
- phrasal verb
- /poʊk fʌn/
- Offensive
- True, Americans like politicians who poke fun at themselves.
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Watch on YouTubeRemember, 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.
- They poked fun at Kamala Harris and at Trump.
- 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.
- 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.
- Imagine the white comedian who satirizes that, pokes fun at that, and in poking fun at that says the infamous N word.
- 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?
Examples
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It's all in good humor when we poke fun at each other's silly mistakes.
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Even in my Southern Literature class, my professor poked fun at themes she brought to our attention.
Blog text (12) -
Are you poking fun at me?
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He'll laugh at our acting and poke fun at us later.
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Remember, don't hurt feelings, but just poke fun at her in a special way.
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Don't be too quick to poke fun at something you know nothing about.
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Please don't poke fun at a poor girl like me, ma'am.
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One columnist was fired because he had poked fun at Ozal.
Academic text (2000) -
Furthermore, like the editor, Nesbit frequently pokes fun at her child characters for the benefit of the adults in her audience.
Academic text (2001) -
Laurel has a remarkable ability to poke fun at whatever she's insecure about.
Fiction book (2002)
Synonyms
∞
3.5
To tease someone in a friendly, playful way
574
2.0
To make fun of someone in a mean way to show they are silly
392
2.3
Laugh at someone or say things that make them feel embarrassed
140
2.9
Say something funny, often unkind, about someone or something
90
4.6
To make someone look silly in a mean way so others laugh at them
86
5.8
To mock someone again and again to make them angry or upset
31
5.5
To make fun of someone in a joking way, often in public
26
3.4
To make jokes about someone, sometimes to be playful and sometimes to be unkind
14
9.0
To tease or nag someone, often in a playful way
13
5.7
To say or do something as a joke to make people laugh
12
6.4
To make a short teasing or critical comment about someone
8
8.1
To tease someone in a playful way
7
9.3
To tease or criticize someone in a friendly way
5
3.8
To tease someone in a friendly, joking way
5
6.5
Make fun of someone in a friendly, playful way
5
8.1
To make quick, unfair critical remarks about someone or their ideas
4
8.0
Laugh at someone or treat something serious as a joke
3
7.5
To laugh at someone and say unkind things about them
1
7.5
To joke or tease someone in a friendly way
1
8.5
To make cruel or mocking remarks about someone
1
9.1
To tease someone by making jokes about them in a friendly way
1
8.7
To make a playful joke or trick someone to make them laugh
1
8.7
To tease or nag someone in a way that annoys them
1
9.9
To tease someone by joking about them in a friendly way
1
7.0
To make fun of someone in a playful way
Tease someone by making jokes about them
Antonyms
How Mocking
- Offensive
90
4.6
- Offensive
264
3.4
- Offensive
30
3.9
1
4.0
- Informal
∞
3.5
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun 'fun' clearly signals amusement and 'poke' can be understood metaphorically as prod/tease, so a learner could plausibly infer that 'poke fun' involves teasing or joking about someone. However, the verb–noun pairing is somewhat idiomatic (usually seen as 'poke fun at') and relies on a metaphorical extension of 'poke', so the exact sense may not be fully predictable without prior exposure.
Etymology
Poke fun may come from the simple image of a light poke, a quick touch to cause a laugh, with fun meaning laughter. That's why poke fun now means 'to tease' or 'to make jokes' about someone to make them seem silly.