How To Use Facetious In A Sentence

I'm not being facetious - the reason I'm sure of this is because I've received so much feedback this year.
He developed the idea facetiously, whilst John regarded him as he might have watched a performing monkey. New Grub Street
I realize he was likely being facetious with discussing how he's perfect, but it still amazes me that he'd say it.
I meant it facetiously
She smiled her way through "facetious" and didn't hesitate as she worked her way through "hemerocallis" - another word for a day lily. ABC News: Top Stories

The Eastern mace is well known to English collectors, it is always of metal, and mostly of steel, with a short handle like our facetiously called life-preterver The Book of The Thousand Nights And A Night
Well, I dunno," said Grandpa Walker, facetiously, balancing a good-sized morsel of food carefully on the blade of his knife, "that depen's on wuther ye're willin 'to take pot-luck with us or not. The Flag
` ` White, '' called a facetious member, but White did not notice. Old Creole Days
Woodward ended the questioning session with facetious conjectures for the outcome of the upcoming election.
For a certain portion of the passengers had the unmistakable excursion air: the half-jocular manner towards each other, the local facetiousness which is so offensive to uninterested fellow-travelers, that male obsequiousness about ladies 'shawls and reticules, the clumsy pretense of gallantry with each other's wives, the anxiety about the company luggage and the company health. Baddeck, and That Sort of Thing
Obviously I was being facetious in quantifying the scope. Low confidence
It was first proposed by Lord Sandwich, to raise a laugh against the facetious Lord North, who happened to sit next to a Mr. Mellagen, a name deemed incapable of a rhyme. The English Spy An Original Work Characteristic, Satirical, And Humorous. Comprising Scenes And Sketches In Every Rank Of Society, Being Portraits Drawn From The Life
He was quite his ordinary self, his facetiousness the cause of much laughter to Miss CHAPTER XXIX
I had posted this link facetiously but see that some commenters, both pro and con, are taking it more seriously.
The first time I ever heard the word facetious was on a Simpsons episode. Dailycomic Diary Entry
Eclectic learning, pungent black humour sometimes degenerating into facetiousness, a stately but singular style, distinguish all his writing.
Despite this initial facetiousness, Aaronovitch acclaimed a book he found "technically accomplished, brilliantly written, full of wit and virtuosity". Critical eye: book reviews roundup
I am not trying to be facetious, but would alternatives be more productive?
Five vowels in the right order occurred in the word ` facetious ". A DEAD LIBERTY
He called Mrs. Bolton Mrs. B., and was very intimate, familiar, and facetious with that lady, quite different from that “aughty, artless beast,” as Mrs. Bolton now denominated a certain young gentleman of our acquaintance, and whom she now vowed she never could abear. The History of Pendennis
Neil was suspicious of the old pilot's facetious tone, sensing that some elaborate practical joke was about to unfold. RUSHING TO PARADISE
Unfortunately, there's only room to quote the most pertinent, ie least facetious.
Suggesting it as to people whom you do dislike, even if you suggest it facetiously, is mean-spirited.
Their unique and facetious yo-heave-ho was so attractive.
She kept interrupting our discussion with facetious remarks.
A horror of any kind was no sooner past than it was straightway forgotten, and the facetious animal would advance with arched back and glaring eyes in defiance of an incursive hen, or twirl in mad hopeless career after its own miserable tail! Deep Down, a Tale of the Cornish Mines
But snobbishness is, in its way, a serious subject, and another, less facetious book could easily be written about it.
A learned commentator gives us what he facetiously calls a lullaby note on this. The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 13, No. 386, August 22, 1829
Finding the facts and authorship of classic offenses, such as the thousands or even millions of petty thefts committed by mankind traditionally, goes almost unnoticed, since these are misdemeanors of "small criminals" that are facetiously and classically pointed out by society as "lowlife" crimes ... Home
Ok, so we're being a little facetious but seriously: nearly three hundred quid to see her at one of the worst venues in the city?
I should like to have you opposite me in any mood, whether the facetiously discursive, the metaphysically discursive, the personally confidential, or the jadedly CURSIVE and argumentative -- so that the oyster-shells which enclose my being might slowly turn open on their rigid hinges under the radiation, and the critter within loll out his dried-up gills into the circumfused ichor of life, till they grow so fat as not to know themselves again. Familiar Letters of William James I
This opinion seems the less improbable, as the person to whom Chettle is most apologetic excels in a quality or profession, which is contrasted with, and is not identical with, "his facetious grace in writing" -- a parergon, or "bye-work," in his case. Shakespeare, Bacon, and the Great Unknown
Though occasionally the humour degenerates into facetiousness, the verbal dexterity of the verse is superb.
She frowned at his facetiousness - a pretty, adorable frown that made him put his arm around her kiss it away.
[2] Witness his well known pun on the name of his adversary Vigilantius, whom he calls facetiously Dormitantius. The Complete Poems of Sir Thomas Moore Collected by Himself with Explanatory Notes
`I `I would never have guessed, "Kolchinsky said facetiously then wagged a finger of warning at him. ALASTAIR MCLEAN'S 'NIGHT WATCH'
This slightly facetious example is an illustration of a problem that is causing some real teeth-gnashing.
This self-deprecating facetiousness characterizes much of Maddin's verbal patter and not only is it a testament to his prodigious wit, but it also demonstrates why he gets away with the things he does.
-- Please exalt your chin, sir, and keep your head a little to one side -- there, sir, "added Toby, cammencing his operations with the brush, and hoarifying my barbal extremity, as the facetious Thomas Hood would probably express it. The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 12, No. 339, November 8, 1828
Allowing for some degree of facetiousness on Andrew's part, he is otherwise highlighting the assumption that "good writing" consists essentially of deploying figurative language -- in this instance specifically a simile: "was wet like ..." -- in strategically chosen flourishes as a way to "describe. Style in Fiction
Update: The point of my facetiousness is to simply point out that when societal attitudes begin to change for the better regarding race, it always seems like (many) far-right conservatives are waiting to seize on (or invent) anything that could be considered an "overreach". Archive 2007-10-01
The newspaper ended on a slightly facetious note: Can anybody commit a forgery against himself?
Unfortunately, there's only room to quote the most pertinent, ie least facetious.
Suggesting it as to people whom you do dislike, even if you suggest it facetiously, is mean-spirited. The Volokh Conspiracy » Follow-up on Garrison Keillor:
Apparently, she isn't being facetious at all, and it was a serious question.
I am no way facetious, nor disposed for the mirth and galliardise [I. 99] of company; yet in one dream I can compose a whole comedy, behold the action, apprehend the jests, and laugh myself awake at the conceits thereof. Religio Medici, Hydriotaphia, and the Letter to a Friend
In one large aperture, which the robber facetiously called his spence Waverley: or, 'Tis sixty years since
I am not asking this facetiously, I am genuinely puzzled as to why you decided to include this column over others in what I heard was a pretty heated competition last term.
That this riding is a facetious exaggeration of the African practice I find was guessed by Mr. Keightley. The Book of The Thousand Nights And A Night
Oh, I don't know," she smiled, half with facetiousness and half with certainty and pride. CHAPTER XI
It's a facetious point, but it's also a serious one.
I hope this approach doesn't come across as facetious or flippant, I'm genuinely interested
Neil was suspicious of the old pilot's facetious tone, sensing that some elaborate practical joke was about to unfold. RUSHING TO PARADISE
The little wizard, as Uncle Morris facetiously called her changeful impulses, was her tyrant. Jessie Carlton The Story of a Girl who Fought with Little Impulse, the Wizard, and Conquered Him
To his credit, he didn't even try to answer any of my facetious questions. THE SAVING GRACES
I don't mean to be facetious, because I don't know what the word facetious means. NYT > Home Page
facetious remarks
Judge Witberg was painfully flustered, and as he hemmed and hawed and essayed to speak, Watson, looking at him, was struck by a sudden whim, and he determined on a grim and facetious antic. The Benefit of the Doubt
Fuelled by a potent mix of philistinism and Francophobia, they operate on the basis that modern French thought is a load of pretentious gibberish, while occasionally plucking out quotes from the more facetious French philosophers, taking them literally, and holding them up as examples of how silly the French are. Enowning
About the same time Shaykh Nasr, Governor of Bushire, a man famed for facetious blackguardism, used to invite European youngsters serving in the The Book of The Thousand Nights And A Night
It's a facetious question, but she answers seriously.
Nay, though it well may raise a smile of ridicule (not on the lips of a grave man perhaps, but of some facetious witling) to hear me say it, a beauty like the cadence of sweet music190 dwells even in pots and pans set out in neat array: and so, in general, fair things ever show more fair when orderly bestowed. Oeconomicus
Five vowels in the right order occurred in the word ` facetious ". A DEAD LIBERTY
But it's without any facetiousness that I admit that there's one game release this week that's particularly pricked my ear: Boing Boing
Their desultory and often painfully facetious conversations are interspersed with picture-postcard vignettes in which presenter and guest savour the delights of holiday life in the capital.
Mine is an immodest, but by no means facetious, proposal.
Words like pantywaist I should probably label as obsolete; a word like yclept, which crops up either facetiously or evocatively in speech and writing now and then, I should label as archaic. The Right Word in the Right Place at the Right Time
Five vowels in the right order occurred in the word ` facetious ". A DEAD LIBERTY
This is a very sad event, and it would be wise to avoid facetious remarks about aggrieved clients and - more particularly - would-be clients.
a vegetable dieter, and Mr. Galen Cornaro, an abominator of wine, and a dyspeptic follower of Kitchener and Abernethy -- a trio of singularities that would afford excellent materials for my friend Richard Peake, the dramatist, in mixing up a new _monopolylogue_ for that facetious child of whim and wit, the inimitable Charles Mathews. The English Spy An Original Work Characteristic, Satirical, And Humorous. Comprising Scenes And Sketches In Every Rank Of Society, Being Portraits Drawn From The Life
So it happened that when Missou arrived a few minutes later he found this pair of gentlemen, who were about to flee for their lives, busily inditing what McWilliams had termed facetiously billets-doux. Wyoming, a Story of the Outdoor West
In one facetious article he promised to show the government how to double the number of jobs in the railroad industry.
To his credit, he didn't even try to answer any of my facetious questions. THE SAVING GRACES
Our word jealousies contains all the vowels, though three of them only were necessary; nevertheless in the two words abstemiously and facetiously the vowels exist all of them in their usual order, and are pronounced in their most usual manner. The Temple of Nature; or, the Origin of Society A Poem, with Philosophical Notes
Beyond Clinton and Palin, Kornblut describes the roadblocks all female candidates must hurdle, dubbed facetiously as "hair, hemlines and husbands," and as she tackles the question of what it will take to win, looks at the women who have successfully maneuvered around them. National Catholic Reporter
I told him that the phlegm was a vegetable called nostoc, and he thereupon concluded that too much learning had turned my brain, and, fully persuaded of his own complete knowledge of nature, was pleased to be very facetious at my expense. The World's Greatest Books — Volume 19 — Travel and Adventure
I facetiously call it the bitter season, and there have been times when it's been hard.
White," called a facetious member, but White did not notice. Southern Prose and Poetry for Schools
Hultin tries to play fair ball with Ephesians in translating εὐτραπελία as "facetiousness". The Busybody
And besides here are none of the old-time machines as elsewhere along our front; not a catapult, or bricole, or bible -- as some, with wicked facetiousness, have named a certain invention for casting huge stones; nor have we yet heard the report of a cannon, or arquebus, or bombard, although we know the enemy has them in numbers. The Prince of India — Volume 02
But this is what I call the facetious riddle invented by you: the demigods or spirits are gods, and you say first that I do not believe in gods, and then again that I do believe in gods; that is, if I believe in demigods. The Apology
Mine is an immodest, but by no means facetious, proposal.
The comment, however facetious, boomeranged against Sinclair.
Then it seemed to me one entered a long patch of really bad writing [with] redundant adjectives, a kind of facetiousness, a terrible prolixity in the dialogue of such characters as the Nurse and Prunesquallor, and sentimentality too in the case of Eda [sic] and to some extent in Titus’s sister. Weird Factoid of the Day
So I'm not being frivolous or facetious when I link much contemporary, conceptual or modernist art with the word 'lobotomized' - it's a scientific fact in the case of speaking in tongues and what are artists encouraged to do in order to find new forms of expression if it isn't the visual equivalent of speaking in tongues? Blogposts | guardian.co.uk
At the risk of sounding facetious, we must keep dancing.
He tried to soliloquize, to be facetious, to have his last grim laugh at life, but his lips made only incoherent sounds. JUST MEAT
This provided too good an opportunity for the wits of the town to miss, and they promptly renamed the house as the Goose and Gridiron, which recalls the facetious landlord who, on gaining possession of premises once used as a music-house, chose for his sign a goose stroking the bars of a gridiron and inscribed beneath, "The Swan and Harp. Inns and Taverns of Old London
Indeed, Asperger’s is all over SF, nor did I use the term facetiously in this case, since I suspect (albeit only from a remove, and based only on my interactions with him) that Burt may have some variation of Asperger’s, which would explain (although not necessarily excuse) some of his truculent behavior and inability to process why others might have objections to his actions. A Gut Check Moment for SFWA « Whatever
This was, I thought at the time, a representative sample of the national poetic effort, and it was clear to me that, on average, it was gutless, insincere, facetious, uninventive and dreary.
That contributed a splendid spirit of comradeship, so that today we hear no facetious remarks from Torontonians -- in regard to the inflated aspirations of our good friends in Hamilton; and they will not permit any thing to be said along the lines of Toronto being known as "Hogtown"; and so today we can congratulate Hamilton once again on having produced another distinguished citizen. Canada's Achievements and Opportunities in Europe
‘All right,’ I said in parting, with a voice dripping with facetiousness.
It sounds like a facetious question, but I mean it seriously.
In one large aperture, which the robber facetiously called his spence (or pantry), there hung by the heels the carcasses of a sheep, or ewe, and two cows lately slaughtered. The Waverley
The words “excellent in the quality he professes,” refer most likely to the Poet's acting; while the term facetious is used, apparently, not in the sense it now bears, but in that of felicitous or happy, as was common at that time. Shakespeare His Life Art And Characters
The hinge of the mirth was made to turn upon the irresistible drollery of one man's running away with another man's wife, and the outrageous fun of the consequent suicide of the injured husband; the _bons mots_ being most tragically humorous, and the aphorisms of the several characters facetiously concatenative of the nouns contained in the leading name of the piece -- "_Love_ and _Murder_. Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 1, October 30, 1841
Listening to his intonation as he discusses his films, it's hard to tell if he's being facetious or if he's dead serious about what he's saying.
A chessboard was forthcoming at a later hour, when we amused ourselves with a couple of games, facetiously dubbing our chessman Federals and Confederates. Campaigns of a Non-Combatant, and His Romaunt Abroad During the War
I like the word facetious too, Zoom, because I associate it with a very funny story. Unwrapping the mayor « knitnut.net
Muskrat Castle as the house has been facetiously named by some waggish officer
The first: At a demonstration in Berlin, our German comrades I do not use the word facetiously, only sadly hoisted a placard reading, Dresden 1945, Baghdad 2003: the same crime. Philocrites: August 2003 Archives
It was instead a facetious response to an anticipated tease in an email between friends.
This is a point I've made facetiously for some time now.
“I know this is not quite the right word”, the inverted commas seem to say, “but I can’t be bothered to think of a better”; or, “please note that I am using this word facetiously”; or, “don’t think I don’t know that this is a cliché”. February « 2009 « Sentence first
The Bothie was the name facetiously given by Alexander, Baron Rothie, son of the Marquis of Boarshead, to a house he had built in the neighbourhood, chiefly for the accommodation of his bachelor friends from London during the shooting-season. Robert Falconer
He had meant to be a little facetious about the Greek words; but it was the slowly prepared and rather exasperating facetiousness of an ageing man, and he had dropped it listlessly, as though he himself had perceived this. Clayhanger
I'm being facetious, but it shows at once the flimsiness of Chaplin's argument and the instinctive response that Guy Product Managers like us will make "Well, that's where the market is! Kicking The Dog
You can take a sarcastic and facetious post like the last one, and turn it into an interesting discussion about the place of sport in our culture.
I'm not being facetious, or trying to use comic effect.
Forgive me for being facetious in these desperately serious times, but sometimes ridicule is the only release from anger.
Does George Bush possess a disarming grin, or a facetious smirk?
But, like the book's happenings, some of its parodies seem facetiously misguided. Times, Sunday Times
The elder buck rejoiced in the sonorous title of "Minne-tronk-ske-wan," but divers convictions for insobriety under the Indian Liquor Act, and the facetious tongue of The Luck of the Mounted A Tale of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police
I assure you that was a facetious comment about the ostrich caucus.
So he presents his arguments in what is often called a ‘tongue-in-cheek’ manner, but is more accurately described as facetiousness.
I could so easily be facetious about this piece of news.
Facetious remarks are part of his stock - in - trade.
You learn very soon never to tell a joke or make a facetious remark.
It's a solid way to hone writing skills though, and I say "loathe" facetiously. Too Many Irons in the Fire
Neil was suspicious of the old pilot's facetious tone, sensing that some elaborate practical joke was about to unfold. RUSHING TO PARADISE
To his credit, he didn't even try to answer any of my facetious questions. THE SAVING GRACES

How To Use Facetious In A Sentence

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