Words / D / General

drollery

noun/ˈdrəʊləri/

C2CEFR level
82/100Rarity: very rare
LiteraryRegister

Quaint or whimsical humour, especially of a dry and understated kind.

The novel's gentle drollery made me smile far more often than any broad comedy.

Similar: whimsy, comedy, jocularity

Origin: From French drôlerie, from drôle amusing rogue.

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