Greg Klein

Definitions of various forms of humour

• WIT: Suggests the power to evoke laughter by remarks showing verbal felicity or ingenuity and swift perception especially of the incongruous.
• HUMOUR: Implies the ability to perceive the ludicrous, the comical, and the absurd in human life and to express these usually without bitterness.
• IRONY: Applies to a manner of expression in which the intended meaning is the opposite of what is seemingly expressed.
• SARCASM: Applies to a manner of expression frequently in the form of irony that is intended to cut or wound.
• SATIRE: Applies to writing that exposes or ridicules conduct, doctrines or institutions either by direct criticism or more often through irony, parody, or caricature.
• REPARTEE: Implies the power of answering quickly, pointedly, or wittily.