straight man
/ˈstɹeɪtˌmæn/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.97 in modern English
17
Scrabble Score
11
Letters
2
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A member (of any gender) of a team of comic performers who plays a supporting role by helping to set up jokes and punch lines through engaging in dialog with another comedian playing a more eccentric or otherwise more interesting character; a foil who plays such a role in theatrical comedy.
noun
Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see straight, man; for example, a heterosexual man.
Example Sentences
- "For many years Bud Abbott served brilliantly as Lou Costello's deadpan straight man."
- "Recently he had successfully concluded a case featuring a poet who wore only latex, lived on liquorice allsorts and worshipped a horse she believed to be the reincarnation of Radclyffe Hall. And she was the straight man."
- "She was the straight man, he was the comedian, and their audience was “standing room only” when they stepped up to the microphone."
- "The committee consisted of two lesbians and a straight man."