Amusing
adj.joyful, energeticeveryday
What it means
Pleasantly funny or entertaining without demanding a serious response.
Reach for it when recommending light material that is likely to prompt smiles
The guide included an amusing story about the building's first elevator.
Choose between these
7- playful
a hoot
boisterous informal fun is exactly the tone
not when This idiom trivializes a dignified person or event.
- everyday
laughter is the direct and uncomplicated effect
not when Funny can also mean strange, which may create ambiguity.
- warm
likability and gentle pleasure outweigh laughter
not when Charm does not guarantee that anything is funny.
- professional
sustained enjoyment matters more than comedy
not when An entertaining lecture need not be amusing.
- professional
clever language or quick intelligence creates the humor
not when Witty wrongly credits verbal cleverness to physical comedy.
- formal
odd, understated humor suits cultivated prose
not when Many readers hear droll as merely dull or quaint.
- literary
comical
appearance or behavior is humorously exaggerated
not when Comical can make a person seem ridiculous.
Said against
3- humorless
- tedious
- distressing
It naturally appears in
3- amusing anecdote
He opened the workshop with an amusing anecdote about his first repair.
- highly amusing
The goat's escape route was highly amusing once everyone was safe.
- find amusing
Young readers may find the pompous dragon amusing.
The word family
2Where this comes from
- wiktionary, English adjective sense: causing amusement opens in a new tab · retrieved 2026-07-26
The definition and the example on this page are written here. The dictionaries above ground which meaning is being described, not the wording.