Word.ws English Dictionary

Tom Swifties

Tom Swifties is the plural of Tom Swifty.

Tom Swifties is the plural of Tom Swiftie.

Meaning of Tom Swifty

Noun

Tom Swifty (plural Tom Swifties)

  1. A humorous phrase in which a supposed quotation is linked by a pun to the manner in which it is attributed.
    • Since then the Tom Swifty has trudged on, not exactly swiftly but with an impressive staying power. You can find Web sites that list as many as nine hundred of them. As the above examples suggest, Tom Swifties are virtually never funny, but they illustrate an adverb-centered sin against writing.2008, Ben Yagoda, When You Catch an Adjective, Kill It, Crown, →ISBN, page 50

Questions about Tom Swifties

What is Tom Swifties the plural of?
Tom Swifties is the plural of Tom Swifty.

Words near Tom Swifties in the dictionary

  1. Tom Sawyered
  2. Tom Sawyeresque
  3. Tom Sawyering
  4. Tom Sawyers
  5. Tom Swiftie
  6. Tom Swifties
  7. Tom Swifty
  8. Tom Thumb
  9. Tom Thumb golf
  10. Tom Thumbs
  11. Tom Tiddler's ground

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Tom Swifties (page history and authors); Tom Swifty (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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