ENGLISH DICTIONARY

Jest

/d͡ʒɛst/ · noun

Meaning

(archaic, typically uncountable) An act performed for amusement; a joke..

(archaic, typically uncountable) An act performed for amusement; a joke.
(archaic) Someone or something that is ridiculed; the target of a joke.
(obsolete) A deed; an action; a gest.
(obsolete) A mask; a pageant; an interlude.
To tell a joke; to talk in a playful manner; to make fun of something or someone.
(African-American Vernacular, Southern US, Shropshire) Pronunciation spelling of just.

I made that comment in jest; it wasn't serious.

Alas poore Yorick, I knew him Horatio, a fellow of infinite Ieſt; […]

Your majesty, stop him before he makes you the jest of the court.

Why then make ſport at me, then let me be your ieſt, / I deſerue it[…]

the jests or actions of princes

He promised us, in honour of our guest, / To grace our banquet with some pompous jest.

Surely you jest!

So I jest called out to know what was up, and found it was Miss Vanholte's cowboys, who had been forced into the store by them rascally ruffins.

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

Jest means (archaic, typically uncountable) An act performed for amusement; a joke..

Common synonyms include prank, gag, laughingstock, banter.

The opposite depends on the specific sense.

I made that comment in jest; it wasn't serious.

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