one-liner
nounEtymology From one + line + -er.
1
A short joke, especially one of a single sentence.
- witty one-liners
- ALMOST without exception, Moore’s narrators have comic yet dark stories to tell: they fire off crisp, De Vriesian one-liners and then, when you least expect it, sneak in wrenching revelations.1994 October 3, Lorrie Moore, “Briefly Noted”, in The New Yorker, New York, N.Y.: Condé Nast Publications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 17 Mar 2026:
1 more example
- Every crass or tone-deaf moment – including a sexual encounter between Eggsy and a socialite, played by Poppy Delevingne, that at best feels entirely misjudged and at worst a complete betrayal of Eggsy’s cheeky but ultimately quite sweet character – is matched by a wonderfully droll one-liner or nugget of razor-sharp satire.2017 September 19, Gwilym Mumford, “Kingsman: The Golden Circle review – spy sequel reaches new heights of skyscraping silliness”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 01 Jul 2021:
2
A short remark intended as a sound bite.
3
Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences A command or small program consisting of a single line of input.
4
Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences A chat feature on a bulletin board system or web page where users can post a single line of text at a time.