as in boorish
having or showing crudely insensitive or impolite manners
the clownish antics of some of the teenagers at the wedding reception
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Recent Examples of clownish
In part, because there was something fascinating about the clownish way their once cutting-edge images no longer fit.
—
Indiewire Staff, IndieWire, 16 Aug. 2025
Joining Proctor in court was Meatball Morrissey’s clownish prosecutor, Adam Lally.
—Howie Carr, Boston Herald, 6 Aug. 2025
And best of all is the entrance of Gladys (Amy Madigan), the almost clownish-looking eccentric, red-wigged aunt of Alex who comes to visit.
—Pete Hammond, Deadline, 5 Aug. 2025
Inspired by the artifice of playthings, Jacobs turned to 1960s paper dolls last February, and this season opened the door to the dollhouse once again with clownish, clomping platform heels that forced his models to walk with a Barbie-like gait.
—Leah Dolan, CNN Money, 3 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for clownish
Recent Examples of Synonyms for clownish
Adjective
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The Brits are wonderful people, and those accents can cover a wide array of boorish behaviors.—
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Kimmel, like Stephen Colbert, went from acting as boorish right-wing caricatures to playing themselves — that is, liberals who dislike Trump and support vaccines.—
Adjective
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In tribute to Michael Keane’s hair-pulling on Wednesday, Cerys Jones picked through the stupidest dismissals in Premier League history.—
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To do a lot less foolish, thoughtless, stupid, idiotic things.—
Adjective
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The series offers Whitford his latest opportunity to express general bemusement with the American political process, this time sporting a bushy white beard, and Whigham his latest opportunity to be an uncouth bull in an otherwise genteel china shop.—
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Every unflattering photo and uncouth inside joke will come to light.—
Adjective
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This was like loutish English tourists turning up unannounced and urinating in the holy water.—
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And Gandolfini, who died of a heart attack in 2013 at age 51, was the show’s tempestuous soul, playing a loutish killer with a quick temper and sad eyes.—
Adjective
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Communism, in its traditional definition, describes a system in which private property is abolished and the means of production are collectively owned, with the goal of creating a classless society.—
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Louis Hartz maintained that the hegemony of liberal thought, with its vaunting of the classless individual, made Marxists politically superfluous.—
Adjective
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Assuming this is something beyond Trumpian posturing, and that’s unclear, any such decision would not only be churlish and cruel but poorly targeted.—
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Kay hasn’t acted since before Marty was born, and Marty never breaks character — they were made for a churlish May-December affair that unlocks something in them both.—
Adjective
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Although the Ripken card launched many conspiracy theories as to whether the inclusion of its vulgar phrase was truly a mistake or a Fleer marketing ploy, there is a long history of errors making it through quality control in sports card production.—
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The joke swap during last year's Christmas episode went to some particularly jaw-dropping places after Che made Jost read a vulgar joke about Johansson.—
Cite this Entry
“Clownish.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/clownish. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
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