SLAPSTICK Definition & Meaning

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slapstick

[ slap-stik ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

broad comedy characterized by boisterous action, as the throwing of pies in actors' faces, mugging, and obvious farcical situations and jokes.
a stick or lath used by harlequins, clowns, etc., as in pantomime, for striking other performers, especially a combination of laths that make a loud, clapping noise without hurting the person struck.

adjective

using, or marked by the use of, broad farce and horseplay:
a slapstick motion picture.

slapstick

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noun

1. comedy characterized by horseplay and physical action
2. ( as modifier )
  slapstick humour
a flexible pair of paddles bound together at one end, formerly used in pantomime to strike a blow to a person with a loud clapping sound but without injury

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�y��vlog History and Origins

Origin of slapstick¹

An Americanism dating back to 1895–1900; slap ¹ + stick ¹

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

The narrowness of the playing area makes it difficult for the actors to do more than offer a stylized approximation of the slapstick ballet that Frayn has engineered.

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Jacobsen throws herself into slapstick, clumsily stalking the house, about which she has questions.

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The stark beauty of Samuel Beckett’s absurdist classic, part music hall romp, part abstract painting, was awakened in a production starring two gifted comics who didn’t overplay their slapstick hands, Rainn Wilson and Aasif Mandvi.

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“A Man on the Inside” is not a slapstick snort-fest in the mold of so many movies headlined by elderly stars misbehaving, thank goodness.

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Britt also inspired the slapstick sidekick Harrogate in “Suttree,” which McCarthy was writing when they first met at a Tucson motel swimming pool where she went to safely shower away from her foster home.

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