Phrase guide

gallows humor

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Australia: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A form of comedy that still manages to be humorous in the face of, and in response to, a tragic or hopeless situation.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: US, idiomatic, uncountable

Examples

  • 1931, "German Falstaff" (review of The Mirror of Fools by Alfred Neumann), Time, 16 Jan., Author Neumann defiantly admits why he wrote this historical-romantic farce: "Because I wanted to fight against the general and my personal depression, and because in hard and bad times there is always one tragicomic feeling in place—gallows humor."

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

25 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Chinese Mandarin: 絞架幽默 /绞架幽默 (jiǎojià yōumò) — comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation
  • Danish: galgenhumor — comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation
  • Dutch: galgenhumor — comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation
  • Dutch: groen lachen — comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation
  • Finnish: hirtehishuumori — comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation
  • French: humour de potence — comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation
  • French: humour de gibet — comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation
  • German: Galgenhumor — comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation
  • German: grünes Lachen — comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation
  • Greek: χιούμορ αγχονών (chioúmor anchonón) — comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation
  • Hebrew: הומור שחור — comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation
  • Hungarian: akasztófahumor — comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation
  • Icelandic: gálgahúmor — comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation
  • Italian: humor patibolare — comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation
  • Italian: risata verde — comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation
  • Japanese: 絞首台のヒューモア (kōshudai-no hyūmoa) — comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation
  • Korean: 교수대 유머 (gyosudae yumeo) — comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation
  • Latvian: karātavu humors — comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation
  • Norwegian Bokmål: galgenhumor — comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: galgenhumor — comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation
  • Polish: wisielczy humor — comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation
  • Russian: ви́сельный ю́мор (víselʹnyj júmor) — comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation
  • Russian: чёрный ю́мор (čórnyj júmor) — comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation
  • Swedish: galghumor — comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation
  • Turkish: kara mizah — comedy that still manages to be funny in the face of a perfectly hopeless situation