How to use deadpan in a sentence
14 example sentences · adjective, adverb, noun
Deadpan means deliberately impassive or expressionless. Example: “The comedian remained deadpan.”
Examples of deadpan by meaning
adjectiveDeliberately impassive or expressionless.
- a deadpan face or look
- deadpan behaviour or speech
adjectiveHaving such a face or look.
- The comedian remained deadpan.
adverbIn a deadpan manner.
- A city-hired consultant from a firm called Urban Futures was booed repeatedly by the agitated homeowners as he talked deadpan, in bureaucratese, about his firm's "evidentiary record" pointing to blight in the neighborhood.2004, Steven Greenhut, Abuse of Power: How the Government Misuses Eminent Domain, page 46
nounA style of comedic delivery in which something humorous is said or done while not exhibiting a change in emotion or...
- MAREK: But really the deadpan is key.2007, Meredith Gran, Octopus Pie #71: Deadpan
verbTo express (something) in an impassive or expressionless manner.
- Kidd deadpanned it, stared glassily back at Maitland.2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 496
More sentences with deadpan
- For many years Bud Abbott served brilliantly as Lou Costello's deadpan straight man.From the entry straight man
- Steven Wright has a deadpan delivery, Norm Macdonald has a dry sense of humor, and Oscar Wilde had a dry wit.From the entry dry
- Red Hawke's deadpan delivery was one of the most hilarious moments in the game for me haha.2015 September 23, HawkeThisHawkeThat, Reddit. From the entry Red Hawke
- I gave him my most coppish deadpan stare.2002, Robert B[rown] Parker, chapter 30, in Widow’s Walk, New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, →ISBN, page 136. From the entry coppish
- “More tea, vicar?” says Richard, deadpan.2010, Grace Maxwell, Falling & Laughing: The Restoration of Edwyn Collins, page 99. From the entry more tea, vicar
- And few singers matched her deadpan comic timing and physical nimbleness in lighter roles like Rosina in Rossini’s “Barbiere di Siviglia,” whom Ms.2007 July 3, Anthony Tommasini, “Beverly Sills, All-American Diva, Is Dead at 78”, in New York Times. From the entry tomboylike
- “If you're planning to get serious about this sun-bunny business,” he said, deadpan, “I suggest that you keep in mind the vital importance of replenishing one's supply of liquids.2010, Cynthia Baxter, Summer House, →ISBN. From the entry sun-bunny
- I looked at his normally deadpan face and saw the faintest outline of a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth, a cheeser grin on anyone else.1977, Llyod Pye, That Prosser Kid, link. From the entry cheeser
Meaning of deadpan
- adjective Deliberately impassive or expressionless.
- adjective Having such a face or look.
- adverb In a deadpan manner.
Questions about deadpan in a sentence
- How do you use deadpan in a sentence?
- Deadpan is used as an adjective, adverb and noun. For example: “The comedian remained deadpan.”
- What is a short sentence with deadpan?
- “The comedian remained deadpan.”
- What does deadpan mean?
- Deadpan means deliberately impassive or expressionless.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: deadpan (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.
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Cite this page: “How to use deadpan in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/deadpan. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.