1
: a joking or mocking remark
a clever jest
2
a
: prank
b
: a ludicrous circumstance or incident
a proper jest, and never heard before, that Suffolk should demand a whole fifteenth for costs and charges—
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare3
a
: a frivolous mood or manner
—usually used with in
spoken in jest
b
: gaiety and merriment
I knew him, Horatio: a fellow of infinite jest, of excellent fancy—William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare4
jested; jesting
formal, dated
: to make jokes or jests : to say things intended to be humorous
"What's it like to design a building and have an apartment in it and have your name on it?" the architect asks, jesting, with his typically irrepressible energy. "It's like a hat trick."—Philip Nobel
Philip NobelYou voted for him? Surely you jest. [=you must be joking]
Synonyms
Examples of jest in a Sentence
Noun
It was a harmless jest.
you should know that our teasing was done entirely in jest
Verb
when I asked my sister for a loan, she laughingly replied, "Surely you jest!"
Recent Examples on the WebHan Zhang, The New Yorker, 11 June 2024
Jerry jests upon overhearing Larry’s considerable urinary flow) and the kinds of childish games that Jerry and George were known for.
—Larry Fitzmaurice, Vulture, 8 Apr. 2024
Emily St. Martin, Los Angeles Times, 24 Aug. 2023
This led him to jest about a personal request from viewers.
—Adrianna Freedman, Good Housekeeping, 2 July 2023
See all Example Sentences for jest 
Noun
Li, who has 1.5 million followers on Twitter, is part of a cluster of young Chinese social-media figures who live abroad and foster political discussions with varying degrees of seriousness or jest.
—Han Zhang, The New Yorker, 11 June 2024
Jerry jests upon overhearing Larry’s considerable urinary flow) and the kinds of childish games that Jerry and George were known for.
—Larry Fitzmaurice, Vulture, 8 Apr. 2024
Verb
The two also jested about their pet peeves about each other.
—Emily St. Martin, Los Angeles Times, 24 Aug. 2023
This led him to jest about a personal request from viewers.
—Adrianna Freedman, Good Housekeeping, 2 July 2023
See all Example Sentences for jest
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'jest.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near jest
Cite this Entry
“Jest.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jest. Accessed 4 Jul. 2024.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share