Definition of 'humour'
humor
Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
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Word Frequency
humour in American English
noun, verb transitive
British
Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 4th Edition. Copyright © 2010 by
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.
Word Frequency
humour in British English
noun
1.
the quality of being funny
3.
situations, speech, or writings that are thought to be humorous
5.
8. Also called: cardinal humour archaic
verb (transitive)
Collins English Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
Derived forms
humourful (ˈhumourful) or US humorful (ˈhumorful) adjective
humourless (ˈhumourless) or US humorless (ˈhumorless)
adjective
humourlessness (ˈhumourlessness) or US humorlessness (ˈhumorlessness)
noun
Word origin
C14: from Latin humor liquid; related to Latin ūmēre to be wet, Old Norse vökr moist, Greek hugros wet
Examples of 'humour' in a sentence
humour
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Quotations
Humour is by far the most significant activity of the human brain
Humor brings insight and tolerance. Irony brings a deeper and less friendly understandingIn Pursuit of Laughter
The secret source of humor itself is not joy but sorrow. There is no humor in heavenFollowing the Equator
There are men so philosophical that they can see humor in their own toothaches. But there has never lived a man so philosophical that he could see the toothache in his own humorA Mencken Chrestomathy
There seems to be no lengths to which humorless people will not go to analyze humor.
It seems to worry themWhat Does It Mean?
Humour is emotional chaos remembered in tranquillity
Trends of
humour
View usage over:
Source: Google Books Ngram Viewer
In other languages
humour
British English: humour
/ˈhjuːmə/ NOUN
You can refer to the amusing things that people say as their humour.
She is a fan of his outrageous humour.
- American English: humor /hyˈumər/
- Arabic: دُعَابَةٌ
- Brazilian Portuguese: humor
- Chinese: 幽默
- Croatian: humor
- Czech: humor
- Danish: humor
- Dutch: humor
- European Spanish: humor gracia
- Finnish: huumori
- French: humour
- German: Humor
- Greek: χιούμορ
- Italian: umorismo
- Japanese: ユーモア
- Korean: 유머
- Norwegian: humor
- Polish: humor
- European Portuguese: humor
- Romanian: umor
- Russian: юмор
- Spanish: humor
- Swedish: humor
- Thai: อารมณ์ขัน
- Turkish: mizah
- Ukrainian: гумор
- Vietnamese: sự hài hước
British English: humour
VERB /ˈhjuːmə/
If you humour someone who is behaving strangely, you try to please them or pretend to agree with them, so that they will not become upset.
She disliked the singer but was prepared to tolerate her for a weekend in order to humor her husband.
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Related terms of
humour
Source
Definition of humour from the Collins English Dictionary
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