punchline
0 antonyms and opposites of punchline, grouped by meaning.
Noun — The final line of a joke or story, which delivers the twist that makes it funny.
Synonyms by Meaning
1. noun
The final line of a joke or story, which delivers the twist that makes it funny.
“He fluffed the punchline and the whole table went quiet.”
2. noun
The point at which a longer sequence of events delivers its ironic or striking conclusion.
“The punchline is that the safety inspector was the one who fell through the floor.”
3. noun
A person or thing that has become a standing object of ridicule.
“After the third collapse, the club's defence was a punchline.”
How to use punchline
The word patterns that sound natural to a native speaker.
Informal to neutral; common in journalism and criticism as well as everyday speech.
Etymology
A compound of punch, in the sense of a sudden forceful blow, and line, a line of spoken material.
Full origin of punchline →Frequently asked questions
Is it punchline or punch line?
Both are correct. The one-word spelling "punchline" is now the more common form and is standard in British English; American dictionaries often still list the two-word "punch line" as the main entry.
What is the difference between a punchline and a setup?
The setup is the part of the joke that supplies the situation and leads the listener towards one expectation. The punchline is the last part, which overturns that expectation and produces the laugh.
Can a joke have more than one punchline?
Yes. Comedians often add a second, smaller punchline straight after the first, known as a topper or tag, to squeeze another laugh out of the same setup.