See tongue-in-cheek on Wiktionary
{
"etymology_text": "This phrase alludes to the facial expression created by putting one's tongue in one's cheek. The term first appeared in print in 1828, but it isn't entirely clear that it was used with the modern, rather than a literal, sense. A later citation from Richard Barham is unambiguous.",
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"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "adj",
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{
"text": "He gave a tongue-in-cheek explanation of why the sky was blue, offering a theory about some primordial discount on light blue paint.",
"type": "example"
},
{
"ref": "2021 December 29, Conrad Landin, “Glasgow Subway: a city institution”, in RAIL, number 947, page 45:",
"text": "It was in this era, too, that author and Scotland the Brave songwriter Cliff Hanley penned The Glasgow Underground, a tongue-in-cheek love letter to the Subway in song.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Not intended seriously; jocular or humorous."
],
"id": "en-tongue-in-cheek-en-adj-PKZPdIGa",
"links": [
[
"seriously",
"seriously"
],
[
"jocular",
"jocular"
],
[
"humorous",
"humorous"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic) Not intended seriously; jocular or humorous."
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "witty"
}
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "witty, jocular, humorous",
"word": "second degré"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "witty, jocular, humorous",
"word": "augenzwinkernd"
},
{
"code": "el",
"lang": "Greek",
"roman": "asteíos",
"sense": "witty, jocular, humorous",
"word": "αστείος"
},
{
"code": "el",
"lang": "Greek",
"roman": "chioumoristikós",
"sense": "witty, jocular, humorous",
"word": "χιουμοριστικός"
},
{
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "witty, jocular, humorous",
"word": "kaján"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "witty, jocular, humorous",
"word": "z przymrużeniem oka"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "nasméšlivyj",
"sense": "witty, jocular, humorous",
"word": "насме́шливый"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "lukávyj",
"sense": "witty, jocular, humorous",
"word": "лука́вый"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "šutlivyj",
"sense": "witty, jocular, humorous",
"word": "шутливый"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "witty, jocular, humorous",
"word": "irónico"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "witty, jocular, humorous",
"word": "burlón"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "witty, jocular, humorous",
"word": "de broma"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "witty, jocular, humorous",
"word": "como chiste"
},
{
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"sense": "witty, jocular, humorous",
"word": "med glimten i ögat"
}
]
}
],
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"synonyms": [
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"_dis1": "0 0 0",
"word": "tongue in cheek"
}
],
"word": "tongue-in-cheek"
}
{
"etymology_text": "This phrase alludes to the facial expression created by putting one's tongue in one's cheek. The term first appeared in print in 1828, but it isn't entirely clear that it was used with the modern, rather than a literal, sense. A later citation from Richard Barham is unambiguous.",
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"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "adv",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [],
"glosses": [
"With contempt."
],
"id": "en-tongue-in-cheek-en-adv-TMUC~kRV",
"links": [
[
"contempt",
"contempt"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(obsolete) With contempt."
],
"tags": [
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]
},
{
"categories": [],
"examples": [
{
"text": "He portrayed them tongue-in-cheek as great lawgivers, as Solons.",
"type": "example"
}
],
"glosses": [
"With irony."
],
"id": "en-tongue-in-cheek-en-adv-3~iSioy0",
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[
"irony",
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"word": "tongue in cheek"
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"word": "tongue-in-cheek"
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{
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"Pages with 1 entry",
"Pages with entries",
"Terms with French translations",
"Terms with German translations",
"Terms with Greek translations",
"Terms with Hungarian translations",
"Terms with Polish translations",
"Terms with Russian translations",
"Terms with Spanish translations",
"Terms with Swedish translations"
],
"etymology_text": "This phrase alludes to the facial expression created by putting one's tongue in one's cheek. The term first appeared in print in 1828, but it isn't entirely clear that it was used with the modern, rather than a literal, sense. A later citation from Richard Barham is unambiguous.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "more tongue-in-cheek",
"tags": [
"comparative"
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},
{
"form": "most tongue-in-cheek",
"tags": [
"superlative"
]
}
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"expansion": "tongue-in-cheek (comparative more tongue-in-cheek, superlative most tongue-in-cheek)",
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"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "adj",
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{
"text": "He gave a tongue-in-cheek explanation of why the sky was blue, offering a theory about some primordial discount on light blue paint.",
"type": "example"
},
{
"ref": "2021 December 29, Conrad Landin, “Glasgow Subway: a city institution”, in RAIL, number 947, page 45:",
"text": "It was in this era, too, that author and Scotland the Brave songwriter Cliff Hanley penned The Glasgow Underground, a tongue-in-cheek love letter to the Subway in song.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Not intended seriously; jocular or humorous."
],
"links": [
[
"seriously",
"seriously"
],
[
"jocular",
"jocular"
],
[
"humorous",
"humorous"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic) Not intended seriously; jocular or humorous."
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "witty"
}
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
]
}
],
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"synonyms": [
{
"word": "tongue in cheek"
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "witty, jocular, humorous",
"word": "second degré"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "witty, jocular, humorous",
"word": "augenzwinkernd"
},
{
"code": "el",
"lang": "Greek",
"roman": "asteíos",
"sense": "witty, jocular, humorous",
"word": "αστείος"
},
{
"code": "el",
"lang": "Greek",
"roman": "chioumoristikós",
"sense": "witty, jocular, humorous",
"word": "χιουμοριστικός"
},
{
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "witty, jocular, humorous",
"word": "kaján"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "witty, jocular, humorous",
"word": "z przymrużeniem oka"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "nasméšlivyj",
"sense": "witty, jocular, humorous",
"word": "насме́шливый"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "lukávyj",
"sense": "witty, jocular, humorous",
"word": "лука́вый"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "šutlivyj",
"sense": "witty, jocular, humorous",
"word": "шутливый"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "witty, jocular, humorous",
"word": "irónico"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "witty, jocular, humorous",
"word": "burlón"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "witty, jocular, humorous",
"word": "de broma"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "witty, jocular, humorous",
"word": "como chiste"
},
{
"code": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"sense": "witty, jocular, humorous",
"word": "med glimten i ögat"
}
],
"word": "tongue-in-cheek"
}
{
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"English adverbs",
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English lemmas",
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"English uncomparable adverbs",
"Entries with translation boxes",
"Pages with 1 entry",
"Pages with entries",
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"Terms with German translations",
"Terms with Greek translations",
"Terms with Hungarian translations",
"Terms with Polish translations",
"Terms with Russian translations",
"Terms with Spanish translations",
"Terms with Swedish translations"
],
"etymology_text": "This phrase alludes to the facial expression created by putting one's tongue in one's cheek. The term first appeared in print in 1828, but it isn't entirely clear that it was used with the modern, rather than a literal, sense. A later citation from Richard Barham is unambiguous.",
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"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "adv",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"English terms with obsolete senses"
],
"glosses": [
"With contempt."
],
"links": [
[
"contempt",
"contempt"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(obsolete) With contempt."
],
"tags": [
"not-comparable",
"obsolete"
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"English terms with usage examples"
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"examples": [
{
"text": "He portrayed them tongue-in-cheek as great lawgivers, as Solons.",
"type": "example"
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],
"glosses": [
"With irony."
],
"links": [
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"irony",
"irony"
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"tags": [
"not-comparable"
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],
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"synonyms": [
{
"word": "tongue in cheek"
}
],
"word": "tongue-in-cheek"
}
Download raw JSONL data for tongue-in-cheek meaning in All languages combined (5.6kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-21 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (d8cb2f3 and 4e554ae). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.