How to Use for laughs in a Sentence
for laughs
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There is a fair amount of gore, not all of it played for laughs.
—Bill Goodykoontz, The Arizona Republic, 14 June 2023
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The line is played for laughs, but its meaning is pointed.
—Doreen St. Félix, The New Yorker, 17 Jan. 2022
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Performing for laughs seems to have kept Mr. Amer from going off the rails.
—Emily Bobrow, WSJ, 26 Aug. 2022
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In so many movies, a cat is run over for laughs or something bad happens to a dog for shock value.
—Brian Truitt, USA TODAY, 8 May 2023
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The escape is played mostly for laughs, but a current of unease and even violence lurks in the scene.
—Tomi Obaro, New York Times, 18 Apr. 2023
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There was a time when the Ducks and Beavers played mainly for laughs – who can forget that infamous scoreless draw from 1983?
—Erick Smith, USA TODAY, 30 Aug. 2023
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Bob Hope played a Casanova impersonator for laughs in the nineteen-fifties.
—Judith Thurman, The New Yorker, 20 June 2022
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It was played for laughs, but definitely also a moment of pure joy.
—Lisa Respers France, CNN, 11 Mar. 2023
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When Reyes turned one into a fireplace, somebody in the neighborhood put an old recliner next to it for laughs.
—Cathy Free, Washington Post, 13 Jan. 2023
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The disaster that results might have been played merely for laughs on another show.
—Megan Garber, The Atlantic, 3 Nov. 2022
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In previous episodes this year, Tanya was played almost entirely for laughs.
—Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 12 Dec. 2022
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Americans have long had a difficult time accepting just how bleak the English are willing to get for laughs.
—Cord Jefferson, Variety, 22 Dec. 2023
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For instance, Jules has some rather dangerous, even deadly powers, but they’re played mostly for laughs.
—Bill Goodykoontz, The Arizona Republic, 8 Aug. 2023
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Such a thing is built (and in this case being sold) for laughs, intentional or otherwise — when all else fails, let the viewer drinking games begin.
—Dennis Harvey, Variety, 16 Feb. 2023
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This sounds bleak, but based on Juicy’s super-cute mourning outfit — a half-up pair of black overalls, adorably distressed — the situation is being played for laughs.
—Helen Shaw, Vulture, 26 May 2022
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Pine as the pure-hearted thief Edgin is in full-on charm mode, and Michelle Rodriguez’s brute barbarian fighter Holga is also often played for laughs.
—Todd Martens, Los Angeles Times, 10 Mar. 2023
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The scene is often played for laughs, with Curly smirking over Jud’s shoulder, slyly comparing the farmhand to vermin and making fun of his dirty fingernails.
—Jennie Rothenberg Gritz, Smithsonian Magazine, 30 Mar. 2023
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His uncle, a parish priest in Ohio, figures into another of the few religious anecdotes that DeSantis shares for laughs on the campaign trail.
—Tiffany Stanley, Chicago Tribune, 9 June 2023
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There is elegance, of course, and sensitivity; a wink or two of wit even breaks through, though Uchida is not exactly looking for laughs.
—New York Times, 22 Dec. 2022
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Maybe not in Nora Ephron movies, but in Judd Apatow movies, there’s nudity and raunchiness that’s played for laughs and can also be really poignant.
—Kyle Buchanan, BostonGlobe.com, 2 Oct. 2022
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Here, Harrelson and Theroux discuss playing the worst people for laughs.
—Lester Fabian Brathwaite, EW.com, 1 May 2023
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Instead, the writer and director will reportedly focus on a movie about climate change, a topic that seems about as ripe for laughs as murderers.
—Brent Lang, Variety, 4 Dec. 2023
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The late Kim Ki-duk’s 3-Iron, for example, also featured characters who break into houses for laughs not larceny, but built something richer and stranger with the premise that touched on class, voyeurism and desire.
—Leslie Felperin, The Hollywood Reporter, 13 Mar. 2024
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At least one of the drivers behind the viral videos was only doing it for laughs, a revelation that is even more concerning when considering that there were other people on the road.
—Jody Serrano / Gizmodo, Quartz, 6 Feb. 2024
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Whether Snoop’s tweet was serious or just for laughs, a number of users are enthusiastic about the possibility.
—Neena Rouhani, Billboard, 19 Dec. 2022
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Putting a comic actor in the dark rubber duds seemed to hint that Burton would be taking a derisively parodic approach to Batman, playing him for laughs.
—Vulture, 25 Aug. 2023
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Here is one of his most packed performances—often funny, yet never engineered for laughs alone, and persuasive in its portrait of an essentially weak soul who persists in dreaming of strength.
—Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 26 Aug. 2022
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Between co-parenting with her ex-husband, making nice with his new wife, managing her daughter's teen pregnancy and everything in between, the show was an easy hub for laughs and became an instant hit.
—Stephanie Sengwe, Peoplemag, 1 June 2024
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For one, the revelation that Henry is a time-traveler means that his particular brand of auto-fellatio gets played for laughs rather than fully examined.
—Philip Ellis, Men's Health, 24 May 2022
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Violence — including a knockdown fight involving reindeer, car chases, and people falling from high places or moving cars — is played mostly for laughs.
—Common Sense Media, Washington Post, 24 Nov. 2023
Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'for laughs.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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