Kate Chopin
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Can banter be vicious?
Banter refers to a form of jesting or to the act of exchanging joking repartee. Although the word once meant “ridicule,” and though it has a regional sense "a challenge or dare" (as in, "he performed a banter [or banner], jumping from the roof onto the snowbank"), in modern use it usually refers to a light-hearted form of wit. You would not be wrong to say that someone engages in “cruel banter,” if that is what is intended, but the word is far more often encountered in combination with modifiers such as witty, friendly, or lighthearted.
Synonyms
Examples of banter in a Sentence
Brady Brickner-Wood, The New Yorker, 10 Oct. 2024
My only hope is that Yancy wakes up for long enough to banter with him, because Vaughn and Delaney are certainly among the great banterers of our time.
—Erin Qualey, Vulture, 28 Aug. 2024
Emily Trainham, Fox News, 11 Nov. 2024
For one, most of the banter just isn’t really hitting.
—Ben Rosenstock, Vulture, 11 Nov. 2024
See all Example Sentences for banter 
Dictionary Entries Near banter
Cite this Entry
“Banter.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/banter. Accessed 29 Nov. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
banter
2 of 2 noun
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