Definition of Black humor

1. Noun. The juxtaposition of morbid and farcical elements (in writing or drama) to give a disturbing effect.

Exact synonyms: Black Humour
Category relationships: Drama
Generic synonyms: Expressive Style, Style

Definition of Black humor

1. Noun. A subgenre of comedy and satire that deals with subjects that are believed to be serious or volatile, such as death, divorce, drug abuse, etc. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Lexicographical Neighbors of Black Humor

black hairstreak
black hairstreaks
black hat
black hats
black haw
black heel
black hellebore
black hellebores
black hemlock
black henbane
black hickory
black hole
black holes
black horehound
black huckleberry
black humor (current term)
black humour
black ice
black information
black jack
black kite
black knapweed
black knight
black knights
black knot
black larch
black lead
black letter
black letters
black light

Literary usage of Black humor

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The Physiologia of Jean Fernel (1567) by Jean Fernel (2003)
"... since it is of considerable advantage to both spleen and stomach. So it is natural, and must not still be called black bile, but black humor. ..."

2. Chaucer's Canterbury Pilgrims by Geoffrey Chaucer, Katharine Lee Bates (1914)
"... both large and small,— Red dreams engendered of red humor all; Just as black humor dyes our dreaming wholly With its own hue of dismal melancholy, ..."

3. The Ante-Nicene Fathers: Translations of the Writings of the Fathers Down to by Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, Arthur Cleveland Coxe, Ernest Cushing Richardson, Allan Menzies, Bernhard Pick (1903)
"... sbtd from them a certain black humor like to ink; and - • perceive that they be taken in such streights that they can- -• --. ;h^ water therewith is ..."

4. Writing Through The Tween Years: Supporting Writers, Grades 3-6 by Bruce Morgan, Deb Odom (2005)
"To my Scholars group and countless years of writing and black humor: Betty Bush, Patricia Cox, Sue Loftus, and Dana, who flew the coop! ..."

5. The Library of Wit and Humor, Prose and Poetry: Selected from the Literature by Ainsworth Rand Spofford, Rufus Edmonds Shapley (1894)
"... the appetite in the orifice of the stomach, by means of little sourish black humor (called melancholy) which is transmitted thereto from the milk, ..."

6. Ante-Nicene Christian Library: Translations of the Writings of the Fathers by James Donaldson, Alexander Roberts, Allan Menzies, Novatianus (1868)
"But both of them, if they perceive that they be taken iu such streights that they cannot escape, shed from them a certain black humor like to ink ; and when ..."

7. The Physiologia of Jean Fernel (1567) by Jean Fernel (2003)
"... since it is of considerable advantage to both spleen and stomach. So it is natural, and must not still be called black bile, but black humor. ..."

8. Chaucer's Canterbury Pilgrims by Geoffrey Chaucer, Katharine Lee Bates (1914)
"... both large and small,— Red dreams engendered of red humor all; Just as black humor dyes our dreaming wholly With its own hue of dismal melancholy, ..."

9. The Ante-Nicene Fathers: Translations of the Writings of the Fathers Down to by Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, Arthur Cleveland Coxe, Ernest Cushing Richardson, Allan Menzies, Bernhard Pick (1903)
"... sbtd from them a certain black humor like to ink; and - • perceive that they be taken in such streights that they can- -• --. ;h^ water therewith is ..."

10. Writing Through The Tween Years: Supporting Writers, Grades 3-6 by Bruce Morgan, Deb Odom (2005)
"To my Scholars group and countless years of writing and black humor: Betty Bush, Patricia Cox, Sue Loftus, and Dana, who flew the coop! ..."

11. The Library of Wit and Humor, Prose and Poetry: Selected from the Literature by Ainsworth Rand Spofford, Rufus Edmonds Shapley (1894)
"... the appetite in the orifice of the stomach, by means of little sourish black humor (called melancholy) which is transmitted thereto from the milk, ..."

12. Ante-Nicene Christian Library: Translations of the Writings of the Fathers by James Donaldson, Alexander Roberts, Allan Menzies, Novatianus (1868)
"But both of them, if they perceive that they be taken iu such streights that they cannot escape, shed from them a certain black humor like to ink ; and when ..."

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