Meanings
nounrunning gag (plural running gags)
plural running gags
- An ongoing joke, one that is regularly repeated or continued.
Some groaners are converted into running gags, as when Joel and his brother (Max Greenfield) get in a duel of parting, one-last-thing-before-you-go affirmations.
2014 June 26, A. A. Dowd, “Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler Spoof Rom-com Clichés in They Came Together”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 07 Dec 2017Synonyms: running joke
Synonyms & antonyms
nounAn ongoing joke, one that is regularly repeated or continued.
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Cite this entry
APA
running gag. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/running%20gag
MLA
“running gag.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/running%20gag. Accessed November 4, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “running gag,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/running%20gag.
Source: running gag on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.