Meaning & use
gag
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Meanings
nouncountableinformal
A joke or funny action, especially one in a show or film.
Grammar: Informal; often used for visual or quick jokes: a running gag.
Patterns
- a gag about something
The film is full of silly gags.
The comedian opened with a gag about airports.
The running gag was that nobody could ever find the keys.
nouncountable
A cloth or object put in someone's mouth to stop them from speaking.
Grammar: A concrete noun, mostly in crime stories: tie a gag.
Patterns
- put a gag on someone
The robbers tied a gag over his mouth.
A gag kept the hostage from shouting.
The detective found a gag in the room.
verbintransitive
To feel as though you are about to vomit, or to choke.
Grammar: No object; often followed by on: gag on a bone.
Patterns
- gag on something
The smell made him gag.
She gagged on the dry pill.
The baby gagged on a piece of apple.
verbtransitivefigurative
To stop someone from speaking or reporting freely, especially by law.
Grammar: Takes an object: gag the press.
Patterns
- gag someone
- gag the press
The court tried to gag the newspapers.
Employees were gagged by strict contracts.
The government refused to gag its critics.
Word forms
| third person singular | gags |
|---|---|
| past tense | gagged |
| past participle | gagged |
| -ing form | gagging |
| plural | gags |
Common combinations
- running gag
- The running gag of the series was the broken elevator.
- visual gag
- The movie relies on visual gags.
- gag order
- The judge issued a gag order in the case.
- gag reflex
- The dentist tested his gag reflex.
- gag on
- He gagged on the bitter medicine.
Synonyms and how they differ
- joke
- Joke is the general word, while gag often means a short or visual comic bit.
- retch
- Retch means to make the movement of vomiting and is more clinical than gag.
- muzzle
- Muzzle is used figuratively for silencing criticism, often by force.
- silence
- Silence is general and does not suggest legal pressure like gag.
Opposites
Word family
- gagging adjective
- desperate, as in gagging for a drink (British informal)
- gagger noun
- someone who writes jokes, rare
- gag order noun
- a court ban on discussing a case
- gagwriter noun
- a person who writes jokes for comedians
Commonly confused: gag or gauge?
gag vs gauge
Gauge means to measure or judge, and has a different pronunciation.
Practice
The judge issued a ___ order to stop the lawyers talking to the press.
Choose one answer.
A gag order is a legal ban on speaking about a case. The other nouns do not make a real expression.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “gag”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.