different between droll vs witticism

English

Etymology

From French drôle (“comical, odd, funny”), from drôle (“buffoon”) from Middle French drolle (“a merry fellow, pleasant rascal”) from Old French drolle (“one who lives luxuriously”), from Middle Dutch drol (“fat little man, goblin”) from Old Norse troll (“giant, troll”) (compare Middle High German trolle (“clown”)), from Proto-Germanic *truzl? (“creature which walks clumsily”), from *truzlan? (“to walk with short steps”). Doublet of troll.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /d???l/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /d?o?l/
• Rhymes: -??l

Adjective

droll (comparative droller, superlative drollest)

1. Oddly humorous; whimsical, amusing in a quaint way; waggish.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:witty

Derived terms

• drollery
• drollness
• drolly

Translations

Noun

droll (plural drolls)

1. (archaic) A funny person; a buffoon, a wag.
   • 1751, Tobias Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle, vol I, ch. 34:

     The lieutenant was a droll in his way, Peregrine possessed a great fund of sprightliness and good humour, and Godfrey, among his other qualifications already recited, sung a most excellent song […] .

Verb

droll (third-person singular simple present drolls, present participle drolling, simple past and past participle drolled)

1. (archaic) To jest, to joke.

Anagrams

• roll'd

Icelandic

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tr?tl/
• Rhymes: -?tl

Noun

droll n (genitive singular drolls, no plural)

1. dawdling, loitering

Declension

Related terms

• drolla

English

Etymology

witty +? -icism; coined in the 1670s by John Dryden, by analogy to criticism.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /?w?.t?.s?z.?m/

Noun

witticism (plural witticisms)

1. a witty remark
   • 1883: George Eliot, The Essays of George Eliot, chapter 4

     Shock of the witticism is a powerful one; while mere fun will have no power over them if it jar on their moral taste.

   • 2015: Hans Rollman, Freedom of Speech: It’s Complicated, PopMatters

     While the occasional wry witticism seeps through, overall Shipler is painfully conscientious about trying to offer both sides of any debate.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:joke

Translations

See also

• bon mot
• gag
• jape
• joke
• one-liner