Roget's Thesaurus

#840. Amusement

Nouns

amusement, entertainment, recreation, fun, game, fun and games; diversion, divertissement; reaction, solace; pastime, passetemps [Fr.], sport; labor of love; pleasure etc. 827. relaxation; leisure etc. 685. fun, frolic, merriment, jollity; joviality, jovialness; heyday; laughter etc. 838; jocosity, jocoseness; drollery, buffoonery, tomfoolery; mummery, pleasantry; wit etc. 842; quip, quirk. [verbal expressions of amusement: list] giggle, titter, snigger, snicker, crow, cheer, chuckle, shout; horse laugh, belly laugh, hearty laugh; guffaw; burst of laughter, fit of laughter, shout of laughter, roar of laughter, peal of laughter; cachinnation; Kentish fire; tiger. play; game, game at romps; gambol, romp, prank, antic, rig, lark, spree, skylarking, vagary, monkey trick, gambade, fredaine, escapade, echappee [Fr.], bout, espieglerie [Fr.]; practical joke etc. (ridicule) 856. dance; hop, reel, rigadoon, saraband, hornpipe, bolero, ballroom dance; [ballroom dances: list], minuet, waltz, polka, fox trot, tango, samba, rhumba, twist, stroll, hustle, cha-cha; fandango, cancan; bayadere; breakdown, cake-walk, cornwallis [U.S.], break dancing; nautch-girl; shindig [U.S.]; skirtdance, stag dance, Virginia reel, square dance; galop, galopade; jig, Irish jig, fling, strathspey; allemande [Fr.]; gavot, gavotte, tarantella; mazurka, morisco, morris dance; quadrille; country dance, folk dance; cotillon, Sir Roger de Coverley; ballet etc. (drama) 599; ball; bal, bal masque, bal costume; masquerade; Terpsichore. festivity, merrymaking; party etc. (social gathering) 892; blowout [U.S.], hullabaloo, hoedown, bat [U.S.], bum [U.S.], bust [Slang], clambake [U.S.], donation party [U.S.], fish fry [U.S.], jamboree [Slang], kantikoy, nautch, randy, squantum [U.S.], tear [Slang], Turnerfest, yule log; fete, festival, gala, ridotto; revels, revelry, reveling; carnival, brawl, saturnalia, high jinks; feast, banquet etc. (food) 298; regale, symposium, wassail; carouse, carousal; jollification, junket, wake, Irish wake, picnic, fete champetre [Fr.], regatta, field day; treat. round of pleasures, dissipation, a short life and a merry one, racketing, holiday making. rejoicing etc. 838; jubilee etc. (celebration) 883. bonfire, fireworks, feu-de-joie, firecracker. holiday; gala day, red letter day, play day; high days and holidays; high holiday, Bank holiday; May day, Derby day; Saint Monday, Easter Monday, Whit Monday; Bairam; wayz-goos, bean feast; Arbor Day, Declaration Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Memorial Day, Thanksgiving Day; Mardi gras [Fr.], mi-careme [Fr.], feria [Lat.], fiesta. place of amusement, theater; hall, concert room, ballroom, assemblyroom; music hall. park, plaisance; national park, national forest, state park, county park, city park, vest-pocket park, public park (public) 737a; arbor; garden etc. (horticulture) 371; pleasure ground, playground, cricketground, croquet ground, archery ground, hunting ground; tennis court, racket court; bowling alley, green alley; croquet lawn, rink, glaciarum, skating rink; roundabout, merry-go-round; swing; montagne Russe [Fr.]. game of chance, game of skill. athletic sports, gymnastics; archery, rifle shooting; tournament, pugilism etc. (contention) 720; sports etc. 622; horse racing, the turf; aquatics etc. 267; skating, sliding; cricket, tennis, lawn tennis; hockey, football, baseball, soccer, ice hockey, basketball; rackets, fives, trap bat and ball, battledore and shuttlecock, la grace; pall-mall, tipcat, croquet, golf, curling, pallone, polo, water polo; tent pegging; tilting at the ring, quintain [Mediev.]; greasy pole; quoits, horseshoes, discus; rounders, lacrosse; tobogganing, water polo; knurr and spell. [childrens' games] leapfrog, hop skip and jump; mother may I; French and English, tug of war; blindman's bluff, hunt the slopper, hide and seek, kiss in the ring; snapdragon; cross questions and crooked answers.; crisscross, hopscotch; jacks, jackstones, marbles; mumblety-peg, mumble-the-peg, pushball, shinney, shinny, tag etc.; billiards, pool, pingpong, pyramids, bagatelle; bowls, skittles, ninepins, kain, American bowls; tenpins [U.S.], tivoli. cards, card games; whist, rubber; round game; loo, cribbage, besique, euchre, drole, ecarte [Fr.], picquet, allfours, quadrille, omber, reverse, Pope Joan, commit; boston, boaston; blackjack, twenty-one, vingtun [Fr.]; quinze [Fr.], thirty-one, put, speculation, connections, brag, cassino, lottery, commerce, snip-snap-snoren, lift smoke, blind hookey, Polish bank, Earl of Coventry, Napoleon, patience, pairs; banker; blind poker, draw poker, straight poker, stud poker; bluff, bridge, bridge whist; lotto, monte, three-card monte, nap, penny-ante, poker, reversis, squeezers, old maid, fright, beggar-my-neighbor; baccarat. [cards: list] ace, king, queen, knave, jack, ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, trey, deuce; joker; trump, wild card. [card suits: list] spades, hearts, clubs, diamonds; major suit, minor suit. bower; right bower, left bower; dummy; jackpot; deck. [hands at poker: list] pair, two pair, three of a kind, straight, flush, full-house, four of a kind, royal flush; misere etc.. [board games: list] chess, draughts, checkers, checquers, backgammon, dominos, merelles, nine men's morris, go bang, solitaire; game of fox and goose; monopoly; loto etc.; [word games: list], scrabble, scribbage, boggle, crossword puzzle, hangman. morra; gambling etc. (chance) 621. toy, plaything, bauble; doll etc. (puppet ) 554; teetotum; knickknack etc. (trifle) 643; magic lantern etc. (show) 448; peep show, puppet show, raree show, gallanty show; toy shop; quips and cranks and wanton wiles, nods and becks and wreathed smiles [Milton]. entertainer, showman, showgirl; dancer, tap dancer, song-and-dance man; vaudeville act; singer; musician etc. 416. sportsman, gamester, reveler; master of ceremonies, master of revels; pompom girl; arbiter elegantiarum [Lat.]; arbiter bibendi [Lat.], archer, fan [U.S.], toxophilite, turfman.

Verbs

amuse, entertain, divert, enliven; tickle the fancy; titillate, raise a smile, put in good humor; cause laughter, create laughter, occasion laughter, raise laughter, excite laughter, produce laughter, convulse with laughter; set the table in a roar, be the death of one. recreate, solace, cheer, rejoice; please etc. 829; interest; treat, regale. amuse oneself, game; play a game, play pranks, play tricks; sport, disport, toy, wanton, revel, junket, feast, carouse, banquet, make merry, drown care; drive dull care away; frolic, gambol, frisk, romp; caper; dance etc. (leap) 309; keep up the ball; run a rig, sow one's wild oats, have one's fling, take one's pleasure; paint the town red [Slang]; see life; desipere in loco [Lat.], play the fool. make holiday, keep holiday; go a Maying. while away the time, beguile the time; kill time, dally. smile, simper, smirk; grin, grin like a Cheshire cat; mock, laugh in one's sleeve; laugh, laugh outright; giggle, titter, snigger, crow, snicker, chuckle, cackle; burst out, burst into a fit of laughter; shout, split, roar. shake one's sides, split one's sides, hold both one's sides; roar with laughter, die with laughter.

Adjectives

amusing, entertaining, diverting etc. v.; recreational, recreative, lusory; pleasant etc. (pleasing) 829; laughable etc. (ludicrous) 853; witty etc. 842; fun, festive, festal; jovial, jolly, jocund, roguish, rompish; playful, playful as a kitten; sportive, ludibrious. funny; very funny, hilarious, uproarious, side-splitting. amused etc. v.; pleased with a rattle, tickled with a straw [Pope]; laughing etc. v.; risible; ready to burst, ready to split, ready to die with laughter; convulsed with laughter, rolling in the aisles.

Adverbs

on the light fantastic toe [Milton], at play, in sport.

Interjections

vive la bagatelle! [Fr.], vogue la galere! [Fr.]

Phrases

deus nobis haec otia fecit [Lat.]; dum vivimus vivamus [Lat.]; dulce est desipere in loco [Lat.] [Horace]; (every room) hath blazed with lights and brayed with minstrelsy [Timon of Athens]; misce stullitiam consiliis brevem [Lat.] [Horace].