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What is the adjectival form of "black humo(u)r"?

English Language & Usage Asked by bcc32 on December 14, 2020

If one were to describe a statement by referring to “black humour”, how should he/she go about forming the adjectival form of the term?

“blackly humourous”

or

“black humourous”

2 Answers

I've seen blackly humorous before (without the hyphen), so I'd plump with this. It still looks very unnatural, though.

Why don't you use sardonic as an adjective?

Answered by hohner on December 14, 2020

Blackly humorous is the form you want. (One job of an adverb ["blackly"] is to modify an adjective ["humorous"].)

Example from a book review: “A blackly humorous fantasy full of monsters, demons, and witches, there’s more than enough here to engage the reader looking for that, but beneath the surface The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart is a novel of surprising complexity.” —Realms of Fantasy

Answered by JLG on December 14, 2020

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