Rib-tickling
adj.joyful, energeticplayful
What it means
Extremely funny and likely to provoke hearty laughter.
Reach for it when using playful praise for broad, successful comedy
The troupe delivered a rib-tickling account of village council life.
Choose between these
6- playful
side-splitting
exaggerated physical laughter suits the tone
not when The image is too casual for reviews.
- everyday
simple comic success is enough
not when Funny is much weaker.
- everyday
strong laughter is the direct result
not when Hilarious is less folksy.
- warm
cleverness rather than broad laughter matters
not when Witty can be only mildly amusing.
- formal
comic
the work belongs to comedy
not when Comic does not guarantee laughter.
- literary
loud communal laughter is meant
not when Uproarious can also mean disorderly.
Said against
3- dull
- tragic
- humorless
It naturally appears in
3- rib-tickling comedy
The festival opened with a rib-tickling comedy.
- rib-tickling story
Grandfather told a rib-tickling story about the runaway cart.
- rib-tickling performance
A rib-tickling performance delighted the packed hall.
Where this comes from
- wiktionary, English adjective sense: very 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.