Definitions for pun
pʌnpun

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:5.0 / 1 vote

1. pun, punning, wordplay, paronomasiaverb

   a humorous play on words

   "I do it for the pun of it"; "his constant punning irritated her"

2. punverb

   make a play on words

   "Japanese like to pun--their language is well suited to punning"

WiktionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. punnoun

   A joke or type of wordplay in which similar senses or sounds of two words or phrases, or different senses of the same word, are deliberately confused.

2. punverb

   To tell a pun, to make a play on words.

   We punned about the topic until all around us groaned.

Samuel Johnson's DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Punnoun

   An equivocation; a quibble; an expression where a word has at once different meanings.

   Etymology: I know not whence this word is to be deduced: to pun, is to grind or beat with a pestle; can pun mean an empty sound, like that of a mortar beaten, as clench, the old word for pun, seems only a corruption of clink?

   It is not the word, but the figure that appears on the medal: cuniculus may stand for a rabbit or a mine, but the picture of a rabbit is not the picture of a mine: a pun can be no more engraven, than it can be translated. Addison.

   But fill their purse, our poet’s work is done,
   Alike to them by pathos, or by pun. Alexander Pope.

2. To Punverb

   To quibble; to use the same word at once in different senses.

   Etymology: from the noun.

   The hand and head were never lost, of those
   Who dealt in doggrel, or who punn’d in prose. Dryden.

   You would be a better man, if you could pun like Sir Tristram. Tatler, №. 57.

WikipediaRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Pun

   A pun, also known as paronomasia, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use of homophonic, homographic, metonymic, or figurative language. A pun differs from a malapropism in that a malapropism is an incorrect variation on a correct expression, while a pun involves expressions with multiple (correct or fairly reasonable) interpretations. Puns may be regarded as in-jokes or idiomatic constructions, especially as their usage and meaning are usually specific to a particular language or its culture. Puns have a long history in human writing. For example, the Roman playwright Plautus was famous for his puns and word games.

ChatGPTRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. pun

   A pun is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term or of similar-sounding words to create a humorous or rhetorical effect. These could play on different meanings of the same word, or a word that sounds similar but has different meanings. It's often used in jokes.

Webster DictionaryRate this definition:5.0 / 2 votes

1. Punverb

   to pound

2. Punnoun

   a play on words which have the same sound but different meanings; an expression in which two different applications of a word present an odd or ludicrous idea; a kind of quibble or equivocation

3. Punverb

   to make puns, or a pun; to use a word in a double sense, especially when the contrast of ideas is ludicrous; to play upon words; to quibble

4. Punverb

   to persuade or affect by a pun

5. Etymology: [See Pound to beat.]

WikidataRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Pun

   The pun, also called paronomasia, is a form of word play which suggests two or more meanings, by exploiting multiple meanings of words, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use and abuse of homophonic, homographic, metonymic, or metaphorical language. A pun differs from a malapropism in that a malapropism uses an incorrect expression that alludes to another expression, but a pun uses a correct expression that alludes to another expression. Henri Bergson defined a pun as a sentence or utterance in which "two different sets of ideas are expressed, and we are confronted with only one series of words". Puns may be regarded as in-jokes or idiomatic constructions, given that their usage and meaning are entirely local to a particular language and its culture. For example, camping is intense. Puns are used to create humor and sometimes require a large vocabulary to understand. Puns have long been used by comedy writers, such as William Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, and George Carlin. The Roman playwright Plautus is famous for his tendency to make up and change the meaning of words to create puns in Latin.

Chambers 20th Century DictionaryRate this definition:5.0 / 1 vote

1. Pun

   pun, v.t. (Shak.) to pound. [Cf. Pound.]

2. Pun

   pun, v.i. to play upon words similar in sound but different in meaning so as to produce a ludicrous idea:—pr.p. pun′ning; pa.t. and pa.p. punned.—n. a play upon words.—ns. Pun′nage, Pun′ning, the act or habit of punning. [Ety. dub.; prob. to beat words=pound, to beat, from A.S. punian, to pound.]

Suggested ResourcesRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. PUN

   What does PUN stand for? -- Explore the various meanings for the PUN acronym on the Abbreviations.com website.

Surnames Frequency by Census RecordsRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. PUN

   According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Pun is ranked #21736 in terms of the most common surnames in America.
   
   The Pun surname appeared 1,197 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 would have the surname Pun.
   
   87.1% or 1,043 total occurrences were Asian.
   4.6% or 56 total occurrences were of Hispanic origin.
   2.8% or 34 total occurrences were of two or more races.
   2.6% or 32 total occurrences were Black.

Matched Categories

1. • Joke

How to pronounce pun?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say pun in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of pun in Chaldean Numerology is: 1

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of pun in Pythagorean Numerology is: 6

Examples of pun in a Sentence

1. Christine Matthews:

   You'd have to work really hard to connect the dots between what Trump's lawyer said, which was ridiculous, and Republicans, i think -- excuse the pun -- that would be a trumped up story. That would be somewhat manufactured.

2. Stafford Broumand:

   Throughout my career, over the last 20-plus years, I have seen a rise and fall -- pardon the pun -- in the size of breast implants. In the '90s and 2000s, for my practice, implant sizes were larger. Patients were requesting larger breast implants. Today, patients' requests have moderated somewhat, what is stable, in reality, are none of our procedures or surgeries.

3. Naomi Osaka:

   I would love to go just to get some experience on the grass court, but like at the same time, for me, it's kind of like -- I don't want to say pointless, no pun intended, but I'm the type of player that gets motivated by, like, seeing my ranking go up or, like, you know, stuff like that, so I think the intention was really good, but the execution is kind of all over the place.

4. Marco Rubio:

   The good news is that we can get this passed. We don't have to keep doing this stupidity anymore. Why we would enshrine this in our laws and keep it for so long is beyond me, hopefully, this is the year that this gets done. And pardon the pun, but this is an idea whose time has come.

5. Gregg Popovich:

   It’s way better with fans, that’s just not a gratuitous comment, it’s for real. It helps you generate competitiveness. It makes everything more enjoyable. Players react to it. So, having fans is fantastic. No pun intended.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

References

1. ^ Princeton's WordNet
   http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=pun
2. ^ Wiktionary
   https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Pun
3. ^ Samuel Johnson's Dictionary
   https://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/views/search.php?term=pun
4. ^ Wikipedia
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pun
5. ^ ChatGPT
   https://chat.openai.com
6. ^ Webster Dictionary
   https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pun
7. ^ Wikidata
   https://www.wikidata.org/w/index.php?search=pun
8. ^ Chambers 20th Century Dictionary
   https://www.gutenberg.org/files/37683/37683-h/37683-h.htm#:~:text=pun
9. ^ Surnames Frequency by Census Records
   https://www.census.gov/topics/population/genealogy/data/2010_surnames.html