jocoserious
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Etymology tree
Blend of jocose + serious.[1][2]
Pronunciation
[edit]- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˌd͡ʒəʊ.kəʊˈsɪəɹ.i.əs/, /-ˈsɪː-/
Audio (Southern England); /ˌd͡ʒəʊ.kəʊˈsɪəɹ.i.əs/: (file) - (General American) IPA(key): /ˌd͡ʒoʊ.koʊˈsɪɹ.i.əs/
Audio (General American): (file) - Rhymes: -ɪəɹiəs
- Hyphenation: joc‧o‧ser‧i‧ous
Adjective
[edit]jocoserious (comparative more jocoserious, superlative most jocoserious)
- (rare) Simultaneously jocose or jocular and serious; mixing mirth with serious matters; semiserious.
- Synonym: half-joking
- a. 1662 (date written), Thomas Fuller, “Suffolk [Since the Reformation]”, in The History of the Worthies of England, London: […] J[ohn] G[rismond,] W[illiam] L[eybourne] and W[illiam] G[odbid], published 1662, →OCLC, page 61:
- King James [VI and I] coming to Cambridge, vvas (amongſt others) entertained vvith a Philoſophy Act, and Mr. Brounrig [Ralph Brownrigg] vvas appointed to perform the Joco-ſerious part thereof, vvho did both to the vvonder of the Hearers.
- 1782 (date written), William Cowper, “On Friendship”, in William Hayley, The Life, and Posthumous Writings, of William Cowper, Esqr. […], volume I, Chichester, West Sussex: […] J[oseph?] Seagrave for J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1803, →OCLC, stanza 16, page 217:
- Friendship, that wantonly admits / A joco-serious play of wits / In brilliant altercation, / Is union such, as indicates, / Like hand-in-hand insurance-plates, / Danger of conflagration.
- 1782 August 3 (date written), William Cowper, chapter VII, in Goldwin Smith, edited by John Morley, Cowper (English Men of Letters), New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], published 1880, →OCLC, page 104:
- Our proposed removal to Mr. Small's was, as you suppose, a jest, or rather a joco-serious matter. We never looked upon it as entirely feasible, yet we saw in it something so like practicability, that we did not esteem it altogether unworthy of our attention. It was one of those projects which people of lively imaginations play with, and admire for a few days, and then break in pieces.
- 1885 March, L. G. W., “Review of Current Literature. [Ferishtah’s Fancies (1884) by Robert Browning]”, in The Unitarian Review and Religious Magazine, volume XXIII, number 3, Boston, Mass.: Office of the Unitarian Review, […], →OCLC, page 274:
- "His genius was jocular; but, when disposed, he could be very serious." It is a part of his joco-serious vein of late.
- 1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 17: Ithaca]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC, part III [Nostos], page 629:
- Was the guest conscious of and did he acknowledge these marks of hospitality? His attention was directed to them by his host jocosely, and he accepted them seriously as they drank in jocoserious silence Epps's massproduct, the creature cocoa.
Alternative forms
[edit]Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]simultaneously jocose or jocular and serious — see semiserious
References
[edit]- ^ Compare “jocoserious, adj.”, in OED Online
, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2025.
- ^ “jocoserious, adj.”, in Collins English Dictionary, 2011–present.
Categories:
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *h₃ed- (smell)
- English blends
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *seh₁- (long)
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *swer- (ache)
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *yek-
- English compound terms
- English 5-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/ɪəɹiəs
- Rhymes:English/ɪəɹiəs/5 syllables
- English lemmas
- English adjectives
- English terms with rare senses
- English terms with quotations
- English terms suffixed with -ous