deadpan
/ˈdɛdpan
/adjective
Impassive or expressionless: she delivered her monologue in a deadpan voice...
- Even as her voice drips sarcasm, her deadpan expression doesn't change.
- Looking out over a million square miles or so of Indian Ocean, I kept my expression deadpan.
- But the face expresses the same deadpan ferocity as the film.
Synonyms
blank, expressionless, unexpressive, inexpressive, impassive, inscrutable, poker-faced, straight-faced, dispassionate, unresponsive, stony, wooden, empty, vacant, glazed, fixed, lifeless
adverb
In a deadpan manner: ‘That’s all right then,’ Claire said, deadpan...
- Pollsters themselves, and the media who report their findings deadpan, are partly responsible for this.
- ‘I hope that Roy Keane is not playing,’ says Arveladze deadpan while shifting his gaze.
- I don't think I was prepared for how deadpan funny she is.
verb (deadpans, deadpanning, deadpanned) [with direct speech]
Say something amusing while affecting a serious manner: ‘I’m an undercover dentist,’ he dead-panned...
- Quizzed on whether he was surprised that Hamilton got the nod ahead of his young lock, the Edinburgh coach dead-panned: ‘I can't possibly comment on that… but yes.
- They cut to a commercial, and when the show came back on, Carson and the bare-chested guests were seated and he looked into the camera and dead-panned, ‘Welcome to Rawhide.’
- Skovdahl dead-panned: ‘That was the kind of goal I used to score.’
