clownishness

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

His efforts to be a terrifying figure are routinely undercut by his clownishness.

From Salon • Sep. 3, 2025

The problem with evil clowns is that it’s the clownishness, not the evil, they soon shed.

From Seattle Times • Dec. 14, 2022

Goals at the other end have declined, too, by about a third, but that’s a small price to pay if it lessens the embarrassing clownishness at the back.

From The Guardian • Feb. 17, 2020

The movie collapses the difference between Rudy Ray Moore and the character he created, treating his creativity as another kind of high-spirited clownishness, and his struggle for recognition as a comic hustle.

From New York Times • Oct. 2, 2019

Still I felt pleasurably excited in spite of headache, sickness, and conscious clownishness; and I saw Anne was calm and gentle, which she always is.

From Life of Charlotte Bronte — Volume 2 by Gaskell, Elizabeth Cleghorn