jape

/dʒeɪp/

Other forms: japes

A jape is a joke. The highlight of your family get-togethers might be your funny uncle's japes.

You can tell a jape, or play a jape — or a practical joke — on someone. An older sister might tell her little brother, "I'm not interested in your silly childish japes" when he shows her his whoopie cushion, for example. You could also say that you love your annual holiday party at work, because instead of the usual stress, it's all laughing and japes. The word jape most likely comes from the Old French verb japer, "to howl, bawl, or scream."

Definitions of jape

1. noun

   a humorous anecdote or remark intended to provoke laughter
   “even a schoolboy's jape is supposed to have some ascertainable point”

   synonyms: gag, jest, joke, laugh

   types:

   belly laugh, howler, riot, scream, sidesplitter, thigh-slapper, wow

   a joke that seems extremely funny

   blue joke, blue story, dirty joke, dirty story

   an indelicate joke

   ethnic joke

   a joke at the expense of some ethnic group

   funny, funny remark, funny story, good story

   an account of an amusing incident (usually with a punch line)

   in-joke

   a joke that is appreciated only by members of some particular group of people

   one-liner

   a very short joke or funny remark

   shaggy dog story

   a long rambling joke whose humor derives from its pointlessness

   sick joke

   a joke in bad taste

   sight gag, visual joke

   a joke whose effect is achieved by visual means rather than by speech (as in a movie)

   type of:

   humor, humour, wit, witticism, wittiness

   a message whose ingenuity or verbal skill or incongruity has the power to evoke laughter