Meaning & use
comedically risky
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Meanings
adjectivebefore a noun
Likely to offend people or cause embarrassment because the humor deals with sensitive subjects.
Grammar: Used to describe a joke, routine, or choice of subject, and usually comes directly before the noun: a comedically risky sketch.
Patterns
- comedically risky joke
- comedically risky material
- comedically risky choice
The host opened with a comedically risky joke about politics, and the room went quiet.
Her new stand-up set is deliberately comedically risky, testing what audiences will laugh at.
Some of the most comedically risky sketches were cut before the show aired.
adjectiveafter a verb
Involving a chance that the humor will fail badly and make the performer look foolish.
Grammar: Often follows a linking verb such as be, seem, or feel: the routine seemed comedically risky.
Patterns
- seem comedically risky
- be comedically risky
- feel comedically risky
Trying to be funny at a funeral is comedically risky, to say the least.
The director admitted that the silent scene was comedically risky but worth it.
It felt comedically risky to improvise in front of a live audience of critics.
Common combinations
- a comedically risky joke
- He told a comedically risky joke about his own family and got away with it.
- comedically risky material
- The writers kept the comedically risky material for the late-night slot.
- deliberately comedically risky
- The whole episode is deliberately comedically risky from start to finish.
- too comedically risky
- That line was too comedically risky for a family audience.
- comedically risky choice
- Casting him as the villain was a comedically risky choice that paid off.
Synonyms and how they differ
- edgy
- Edgy is a single informal word for humor that pushes at the limits of taste, while comedically risky spells out that the danger is about the comedy itself.
- provocative
- Provocative means it deliberately stirs strong reactions, which is broader than comedically risky and not limited to humor.
- daring
- Daring stresses courage in taking a chance; comedically risky stresses that the chance is that the joke will flop or offend.
Opposites
Word family
- comedy noun
- Entertainment or writing meant to make people laugh.
- comedian noun
- A person who performs comedy.
- comedic adjective
- Relating to comedy or intended to be funny.
- comedically adverb
- In a way that relates to comedy or is meant to be funny.
- risky adjective
- Involving the possibility of loss, harm, or failure.
Commonly confused: comedically risky or comically? comedically risky or tragically?
comedically risky vs comically
Comically means in a funny or amusing way and usually describes how something looks or happens; comedically risky is about comedy as a field and the danger it carries.
comedically risky vs tragically
Tragically refers to sadness and disaster, so it is the near opposite in feeling; do not use it when you mean the risk comes from humor.
Practice
Which sentence uses "comedically risky" most naturally?
Choose one answer.
The phrase belongs with humor that might offend or flop, so a remark about the CEO fits. Option 0 and option 2 describe physical danger or an ordinary mistake, not comedy, and option 3 is about medical danger, where "risky" would stand alone.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “comedically risky”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.