tongue-in-chic

tongue-in-chic adjective: using humor as a deliberate element of style. Also the misspelling of tongue-in-cheek.

Adjective

tongue-in-chic (comparative more tongue-in-chic, superlative most tongue-in-chic)

Using humor as a deliberate element of style.
- The men's styles – arguably more tongue-in-chic than the women's – include glow-in-the-dark denim and a new selvedge herringbone in addition to linen and cashmere blends; prices ring in at about $200.2011 September 24, Amy Verner, “Best-kept denim secret? The hottest brands are Canadian”, in Globe and Mail
- It soon gave birth to a whole host of self-referential, tongue-in-chic logo t-shirts and jumpers.2013 October 23, Alison Lynch, “How the designer logo grew up”, in Metro
Characterized by humor about style or fashion.
- On a radically different tip, if you're after something raucously tongue-in-chic to round off your weekend, then Larry Tee's Fashion Disaster Party at XOYO on Sunday will definitely fit the bill.2013 February 13, Sharon O'Connell, “LuckyMe to rock Plastic People and Fashion Disaster land in XOYO”, in Metro
- She's one of the most influential fashion bloggers in the world, whose site is read by more than 1.5 million women around the world every month, who has worked with everyone from NARS to J Crew and Superga, and is the brains behind such tongue-in-chic terms like ‘arm party’ and ‘birth control...2014 October 27, Hannah-Rose Yee, “Fast Five With Leandra Medine”, in Marie Claire Australia

tongue-in-chic (uncountable)

The use of humor as an element of style.
- It was big hats, prints galore, tight outfits and plenty of bling under the impressive Shanghai skyline – just the tongue-in-chic Moschino is famous for.2013 June 14, Jing Zhang, “Moschino lights up Shanghai in first China show”, in South China Morning Post
- That said, you have to admire the whole tongue-in-chic of it all, and the soul/hard rock wheel doesn't actually need reinventing.2014 October 16, Graham Reid, “Album review: Lenny Kravitz, Strut”, in New Zealand Herald

tongue-in-chic is also the misspelling of tongue-in-cheek.

Whether tongue-in-chic or seriously eccentric, fall's most unforgettable heels, flats and sneakers have major flourish with allover fur or delicate tufts of the stuff.2015 March 25, Mosha Lundstrom Halbert, “Women's Footwear Trend: Fur for Fall”, in Footwear News:
Style?” I hear you scoff) it has to be tongue-in-chic because we are world-class masters at self deprecation.2015 May 22, Kathy Lette, “Why Australia will make Eurovision even more fun”, in Radio Times:
Even at more seemingly conventional Hot 50 establishments, tongue-in-chic ingredients are becoming de rigueur.2015 August 21, Necia Wilden, “Hot 50 list of Australia's best restaurants revealed”, in The Australian:

Blend of tongue-in-cheek + chic.

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

What does tongue-in-chic mean?: Tongue-in-chic means using humor as a deliberate element of style.
How do you use tongue-in-chic in a sentence?: Whether tongue-in-chic or seriously eccentric, fall's most unforgettable heels, flats and sneakers have major flourish with allover fur or delicate tufts of the stuff.
What part of speech is tongue-in-chic?: Tongue-in-chic can be an adjective or a noun.

Adapted from Wiktionary: tongue-in-chic (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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this entry: “tongue-in-chic.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/tongue-in-chic. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.