Hilarious
adj.joyful, energeticeveryday
What it means
Extremely funny in a way that provokes strong laughter.
Reach for it when praising comedy that genuinely delighted its audience
Mina's hilarious account of the runaway wheelbarrow had the whole table laughing.
Choose between these
7- playful
hysterical
informal speech calls for maximum comic enthusiasm
not when Hysterical can trivialize real distress and sounds exaggerated in formal writing.
- playful
side-splitting
deliberate comic exaggeration suits a casual recommendation
not when The idiom feels promotional when the humor is dry or restrained.
- everyday
ordinary amusement is enough
not when Funny is much broader and may understate sustained, intense laughter.
- professional
clever language or ideas produce the humor
not when Witty comedy may prompt admiration rather than helpless laughter.
- formal
comical
a situation appears amusingly absurd
not when Comical can sound detached and may imply laughing at someone.
- literary
odd, understated wit is the particular appeal
not when Droll is too quiet for something loudly hilarious.
- literary
loud collective laughter is part of the scene
not when Uproarious describes the response or atmosphere more than subtle humor.
Said against
3- humorless
- tedious
- tragic
It naturally appears in
3- hilarious story
Her hilarious story gave every mishap a generous ending.
- absolutely hilarious
The improvised weather forecast was absolutely hilarious.
- hilarious moment
A hilarious moment arrived when both puppets lost the same hat.
The word family
1Where this comes from
- Wiktionary, English adjective sense 1: extremely amusing 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.