See tongue-in-cheek in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
Download JSON data for tongue-in-cheek meaning in English (4.5kB)
{
"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"
]
},
{
"form": "most tongue-in-cheek",
"tags": [
"superlative"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "tongue-in-cheek (comparative more tongue-in-cheek, superlative most tongue-in-cheek)",
"name": "en-adj"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "adj",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"_dis": "58 20 21",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
"Entries with incorrect language header",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"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": "quotation"
}
],
"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": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"sense": "witty, jocular, humorous",
"word": "med glimten i ögat"
}
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "En-au-tongue-in-cheek.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/5e/En-au-tongue-in-cheek.ogg/En-au-tongue-in-cheek.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5e/En-au-tongue-in-cheek.ogg",
"tags": [
"Australia"
],
"text": "Audio (AU)"
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"_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.",
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "-"
},
"expansion": "tongue-in-cheek (not comparable)",
"name": "en-adv"
}
],
"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": [
"not-comparable",
"obsolete"
]
},
{
"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",
"links": [
[
"irony",
"irony"
]
],
"tags": [
"not-comparable"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "En-au-tongue-in-cheek.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/5e/En-au-tongue-in-cheek.ogg/En-au-tongue-in-cheek.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5e/En-au-tongue-in-cheek.ogg",
"tags": [
"Australia"
],
"text": "Audio (AU)"
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0",
"word": "tongue in cheek"
}
],
"word": "tongue-in-cheek"
}
{
"categories": [
"English adjectives",
"English adverbs",
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English lemmas",
"English multiword terms",
"English terms with audio links",
"English uncomparable adverbs"
],
"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"
]
},
{
"form": "most tongue-in-cheek",
"tags": [
"superlative"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "tongue-in-cheek (comparative more tongue-in-cheek, superlative most tongue-in-cheek)",
"name": "en-adj"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "adj",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"English idioms",
"English terms with quotations",
"English terms with usage examples"
],
"examples": [
{
"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": "quotation"
}
],
"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"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "En-au-tongue-in-cheek.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/5e/En-au-tongue-in-cheek.ogg/En-au-tongue-in-cheek.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5e/En-au-tongue-in-cheek.ogg",
"tags": [
"Australia"
],
"text": "Audio (AU)"
}
],
"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": "sv",
"lang": "Swedish",
"sense": "witty, jocular, humorous",
"word": "med glimten i ögat"
}
],
"word": "tongue-in-cheek"
}
{
"categories": [
"English adjectives",
"English adverbs",
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English lemmas",
"English multiword terms",
"English terms with audio links",
"English uncomparable adverbs"
],
"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.",
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "-"
},
"expansion": "tongue-in-cheek (not comparable)",
"name": "en-adv"
}
],
"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"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English terms with usage examples"
],
"examples": [
{
"text": "He portrayed them tongue-in-cheek as great lawgivers, as Solons.",
"type": "example"
}
],
"glosses": [
"With irony."
],
"links": [
[
"irony",
"irony"
]
],
"tags": [
"not-comparable"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "En-au-tongue-in-cheek.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/5e/En-au-tongue-in-cheek.ogg/En-au-tongue-in-cheek.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5e/En-au-tongue-in-cheek.ogg",
"tags": [
"Australia"
],
"text": "Audio (AU)"
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "tongue in cheek"
}
],
"word": "tongue-in-cheek"
}
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-30 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (210104c and c9440ce). 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.