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humour

2 syllables

Quick answer

As a noun, humour means the quality of being amusing, comical, funny. As a verb, it means pacify by indulging.

Meanings of humour

12 meanings

The quality of being amusing, comical, funny.
“She has a great sense of humour, and I always laugh a lot whenever we get together.”
“The sensitive subject was treated with humour, but in such way that no one was offended.”
A mood, especially a bad mood; a temporary state of mind or disposition brought upon by an event; an abrupt illogical inclination or whim.
“He was in a particularly vile humour that afternoon.”
medicineEither of the two regions of liquid within the eyeball, the aqueous humour and vitreous humour.
A characteristic (habitual or relatively temporary) state of feelingfeeling
“whether he praised or cursed me depended on his temper at the time”
“he was in a bad humor”
Similar: temper, mood, humor
A message whose ingenuity or verbal skill or incongruity has the power to evoke laughter
Similar: wit, humor, witticism, wittiness
(Middle Ages) one of the four fluids in the body whose balance was believed to determine your emotional and physical statebody
“the humors are blood and phlegm and yellow and black bile”
Similar: humor
The liquid parts of the bodybody
Similar: liquid body substance, bodily fluid, body fluid, humor
The trait of appreciating (and being able to express) the humorous
“she didn't appreciate my humor”
“you can't survive in the army without a sense of humor”
Similar: humor, sense of humor, sense of humour

Older and rare meanings (2)

archaichistoricalAny of the fluids in an animal body, especially the four "cardinal humours" of blood, yellow bile, black bile and phlegm that were believed to control the health and mood of the human body.
obsoleteMoist vapour, moisture.