Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use banter in a sentence

26 example sentences · noun, verb

Banter means sharp, good-humoured, playful, typically spontaneous conversation. Example: “The stand-up dealt well with the heckles from the crowd, replying with raucous banter to raise plenty of laughs.”

Examples of banter by meaning

nounSharp, good-humoured, playful, typically spontaneous conversation.

  • You are a drone.' I appreciated the banter.1927–1929, M[ohandas] K[aramchand] Gandhi, chapter XVIII, in The Story of My Experiments with Truth: Translated from the Original in...
  • This bullying continuum illustrates the progressive escalation from harmless banter to bullying and criminal behaviours.2007, Evelyn M. Field, Bully Blocking, page 17

More sentences with banter

  • The stand-up dealt well with the heckles from the crowd, replying with raucous banter to raise plenty of laughs.From the entry heckle
  • Brother Wu gets worked up when you banter him off in any way, shape or form. Particularly his shoddy brand, football opinions or taste in clothes.From the entry worked up
  • She loved their daily rides, the easy banter, the flirtatious game of cat and mouse they played.2014, Alison Weir, The Marriage Game. From the entry cat and mouse
  • WHITLEY Impressively cheekboned folk pop merchant has a knack with banter and hooks .2009 January 15, “Rock, Pop and Roots”, in Herald Sun, archived from the original on 03 Sep 2009. From the entry cheekboned
  • I gained a couple of tweethearts since then and enjoy the banter. (My twitter is never serious)."2009 September 5, C.J. Castillo, “Tweetups: Meeting the people behind the tweets”, in Victoria Advocate. From the entry tweetheart
  • For the audience, watching competent people banter and plan was a big part of the appeal.2009 August 11, John Rogers, “LEVERAGE #204 ‘The Fairy Godparents Job’ Post-game”, in Kung Fu Monkey (blog), archived from the original on…. From the entry competence porn
  • Tell my neighbors' kids who insist on conducting their Eminemesque banter on 4-20, for example.2003 September 13, Tripp Knightly, “Re: Using family radios or walkie talkies in lieu of baby monitors”, in misc.kids.health (Usenet). From the entry Eminemesque
  • Being a native of Northumberland, she was enjoying their banter and Geordie good humour.2001, William F. Gray, The Villain, iUniverse, page 214. From the entry crack
  • In bantering gusto he went right on with his thiefly enterprise.1949, Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association, The Improvement Era - Volume 52, page 378. From the entry thiefly
  • His banter Friday night was fresh, off the cuff.2026 March 29, Matt Mitchell, “In LA, Paul McCartney is king”, in AV Club. From the entry off the cuff
  • All this lovely banter leads to the Bang That Was Promised and all other kinds of lovey things.2023 December 13, Proper_Collection525, Reddit. From the entry Bang That Was Promised
  • I drop my bantering side, glauming a hard frown.2022 January 25, Angel Payne, Misadventures with a Duke, Waterhouse Press, →ISBN. From the entry glaum
  • So far, you've exchanged some flirty banter, discovered some common ground, and it's obvi the interest is mutual.2020 July 21, Rebecca Strong, “18 Non-Awk Ways To Ask A Match What Kind Of Relationship They're Looking For”, in Elite Daily, archived…. From the entry obvi
  • Be they called playing cards or face cards, the question remains, what brought about the banishment of this brainial banter?2005, Paul B. Skousen, Harold K. Moon, Brother Paul's Mormon Bathroon Reader, Cedar Fort, →ISBN, page 43. From the entry brainial
  • Then there was much mirth and banter over the swift sneakings for home of certain men carrying large portions of puarka.1915, Charmian London, The Log of the Snark, page 108. From the entry sneaking
  • There's no banter back and forth.February 6, 2013, Jackie MacMullan, article: Kobe Bryant Dishes on Celtics, ESPN online. From the entry talk trash
  • But try to be patient, sweet fanatical Buffyheads, for the same spirited banter and thoughtful philosophical discussions are there for the savoring.2009 February 12, Heather Havrilesky, “Trapped in the Dollhouse”, in Salon, archived from the original on 26 Sep 2012. From the entry Buffyhead
  • On the third night of her 20-city cross-country jaunt, the liberal crooner stopped the show to banter with a George Bush impersonator onstage.2006 October 13, Kimberley McGee, “Hopefully she’s a good actress”, in Southern Utah’s Entertainment Guide, section “Diva Antics”, page 34. From the entry unladylikely
  • Thurston Dart was a man suitably underawed by military reputations and he did not hesitate to engage in light-hearted banter with his Principal.2003, Roy Fullick, Shan Hackett: The Pursuit of Exactitude, page 202. From the entry underawe
  • Although the tension between Team Edward and Team Jacob fans is usually expressed in playful banter, there is the possibility that this group conflict will erupt into hostility.2011, Melissa Burkley, “Prejudice in Twilight”, in E. David Klonsky, Alexis Black, editors, The Psychology of Twilight, BenBella Books…. From the entry Team Edward
  • There is only a small window in which to proffer elevatorial banter - like the rodeo and that ne'er seen Luke Perry movie - about eight seconds .2011 May 24, Phineas Mollod, Jason Tesauro, The Modern Gentleman, 2nd Edition: A Guide to Essential Manners, Savvy, and Vice, Ten Speed…. From the entry elevatorial
  • Talk about a fine romance: Clinton's and Bush's campaign engineers trading cheery screw-yous from points along the trail, then meeting up for a bantering dinner a deux.1994, Mirabella - Volume 6, Issues 1-6, page 106. From the entry screw-you
  • In place of snappy banter, there is cod philosophy about destiny and choice, and in place of Lalo Schifrin's adrenaline-pumping classic theme, there are orchestral minor chords on the soundtrack.2025 May 14, Nicholas Barber, “'A miserable, apocalyptic tract': Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning could be 'the feel-bad film of…. From the entry cod
  • He seemed to have that kind of self-possession and ease about him, together with a certain bantering jollity, which are so natural to fast-handed and well-housed lords of the soil.2014, Samuel Bamford, Passages in the Life of a Radical, →ISBN, page 14. From the entry fast-handed

Meaning of banter

  1. noun Sharp, good-humoured, playful, typically spontaneous conversation.
  2. noun Good-humoured bits of monologue and/or conversational prompts used in any of a wide range of occupations that must frequently interact with the public (for example, store clerks, salespersons, nurses).
  3. verb To engage in banter or playful conversation.

Full definition of banter

Questions about banter in a sentence

How do you use banter in a sentence?
Banter is used as a noun and verb. For example: “The stand-up dealt well with the heckles from the crowd, replying with raucous banter to raise plenty of laughs.”
What is a short sentence with banter?
“There's no banter back and forth.”
What does banter mean?
Banter means sharp, good-humoured, playful, typically spontaneous conversation.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: banter (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this page: “How to use banter in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/banter. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.