Words / D / General

deadpan

adjective/ˈdedpæn/

C1CEFR level
55/100Rarity: uncommon
NeutralRegister

Delivering humour with a deliberately expressionless, matter-of-fact manner.

His deadpan delivery made the outrageous story somehow more believable.

Similar: poker-faced, impassive, straight-faced

Origin: From dead + pan, slang for face.

Topic: wit in General English

Rarity runs from 0 (a word everyone knows) to 100 (almost never seen outside specialist or literary writing). Level is the word's real difficulty on the CEFR scale, from A1 to C2.

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More general words: wit