punningly

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adverb

In a punning manner; so as to form a pun.

Scrabble 15

Meanings

adverbpunningly (comparative more punningly, superlative most punningly)

comparative more punningly · superlative most punningly

  1. In a punning manner; so as to form a pun.

    Even though some names or words polysemically carry sexual meanings, this does not automatically mean that every usage of them in literary texts, even those of a pornographic nature, has a sexual meaning, either explicitly or punningly.

    2011, Patrick Spedding, James Lambert, “Fanny Hill, Lord Fanny, and the Myth of Metonymy”, in Studies in Philology, volume 108, number 1, page 113
    1 more example

    The film is an anthology of three whimsical short stories set in France in the mid-20th Century. The conceit is that they were all published in an English-language magazine which is edited in the punningly-named fictional French city of Ennui-sur-Blasé, but which is attached to an American newspaper based in Kansas.

    2021 July 12, Nicholas Barber, “The French Dispatch: Four stars for Wes Anderson's latest”, in BBC

Origin

Cite this entry
APA

punningly. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/punningly

MLA

“punningly.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/punningly. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “punningly,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/punningly.

Source: punningly on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.