facetious

English

WOTD – 6 April 2016

Etymology

From French facétieux, from Latin facētia (“jest, wit, humor”), from facētus (“witty, jocose, facetious”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /fəˈsiːʃəs/
Audio (General Australian): (file)
Audio (US): (file)
Rhymes: -iːʃəs
Hyphenation: fa‧ce‧tious

Adjective

facetious (comparative more facetious, superlative most facetious)

Treating serious issues with (often deliberately) inappropriate humour; flippant.
Robbie's joke about Heather's appearance was just him being facetious.
- 1951 October, “Notes and News: The Harmonium at Troutbeck”, in Railway Magazine, page 709:
  Troutbeck is a tiny village midway between Penrith and Keswick in a very sparsely populated part of Cumberland, and it used to be said by facetious travellers that the reason why it ever had a station at all was to give the engine a rest after it had struggled up the long and trying incline from Threlkeld.
- 2017 October 2, Jess Cartner-Morle, “Stella McCartney lays waste to disposable fashion in Paris”, in the Guardian‎^[1]:
  Glamour for its own sake is not something I have ever been particularly interested in,” Stella McCartney said backstage after her catwalk show. Which could sound like a facetious statement from a fashion designer who was, at that moment, standing among the marble-slabbed floors, elaborately frescoed ceilings and giant chandeliers of the Palais Garnier opera house, where the show was staged.
Pleasantly humorous; jocular.
(Of an idea or statement) humorously silly or counterproductive for the purpose of sarcastically advocating the opposite.

Synonyms

See also Thesaurus:witty

Derived terms

Translations

flippant

Arabic: سَاخِر m (sāḵir)
Bulgarian: шеговит (bg) (šegovit), закачлив (bg) (zakačliv)
Dutch: spottend (nl), spotterig
Finnish: epäasiallinen, näsäviisas (fi)
French: facétieux (fr)
Galician: please add this translation if you can
German: spöttisch (de), spöttelnd (de), sarkastisch (de), scherzhaft (de), spaßhaft
Icelandic: spaugsamur m, gamansamur m
Italian: faceto (it)
Macedonian: несерио́зен (neseriózen), леко́мислен (lekómislen), за́качлив (zákačliv)
Norwegian: please add this translation if you can
Russian: несерьёзный (ru) (neserʹjóznyj)
Spanish: fisgón (es), socarrón (es), faceto (Mexico)
Swedish: lättvindig (sv)
Welsh: ysmala, gwamal (cy)

pleasantly humorous, jocular

Arabic: طَرِيف m (ṭarīf)
Bulgarian: забавен (bg) (zabaven)
Chinese:
Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 轻率的, ^{(please verify)} 滑稽的
Dutch: grappig (nl)
Finnish: hyväntuulinen (fi), leikillinen (fi)
French: facétieux (fr)
Galician: please add this translation if you can
German: spaßig (de), witzig (de), lustig (de), humorvoll (de), drollig (de)
Greek: ευτράπελος (el) (eftrápelos)
Hungarian: tréfálkozó (hu)
Italian: faceto (it)
Japanese: 剽軽 (ja) (hyōkin)
Macedonian: сме́шен (sméšen), за́бавен (zábaven), ше́говит (šégovit)
Norwegian: please add this translation if you can
Portuguese: faceto (pt)
Russian: шутли́вый (ru) (šutlívyj), шу́точный (ru) (šútočnyj), заба́вный (ru) (zabávnyj)
Spanish: faceto m (obsolete), gracioso (es) m, facecioso (es)
Swedish: skämtsam (sv)
Welsh: arabus, cellweirus (cy), doniol (cy)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Kyrgyz: ^{(please verify)} тамашалуу (ky) (tamaşaluu), ^{(please verify)} оюнкараак (ky) (oyunkaraak)