tongue-in-cheek

1. 1.

   in a bantering fashion

   “he spoke to her banteringly”

   Synonymsbanteringly
2. 2.

   not seriously

   “I meant it facetiously”

   Synonymsfacetiouslyjokingly

1. 1.

   cleverly amusing in tone

   “a bantering tone”

   “facetious remarks”

   “tongue-in-cheek advice”

   Synonymsbanteringfacetious

   Similarhumorous

Questions about tongue-in-cheek

What does tongue-in-cheek mean?

tongue-in-cheek means "in a bantering fashion". That is the primary sense; the word has 3 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in tongue-in-cheek?

tongue-in-cheek has 3 syllables: ton-gue-in--cheek. The stress falls on "ton".

What is another word for tongue-in-cheek?

Close synonyms include banteringly, facetiously, jokingly, bantering, facetious. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is tongue-in-cheek a common word?

tongue-in-cheek is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.