How to Use limerick in a Sentence

limerick

noun
  • The affair is a glitzy one, ending in drinking games and dirty limericks.
    Chelsey Sanchez, Harper's BAZAAR, 18 Nov. 2019
  • Isaac Asimov was enthralled with her and wrote her a limerick.
    BostonGlobe.com, 22 May 2021
  • The show depicts the event as a loose, boozy affair featuring singing, dancing and the recitation of dirty limericks.
    Daniel Arkin, NBC News, 17 Nov. 2019
  • Most people know the limerick’s rigid meter and rhyme scheme—the first, second and fifth lines should rhyme with each other, as should the shorter third and fourth lines.
    Amanda Foreman, WSJ, 6 Apr. 2017
  • The title doesn’t have to appear within the limerick itself.
    Washington Post, 17 June 2021
  • Joe Orlando of Mesa wrote this winning limerick: The haboob blows through here each year.
    Richard Ruelas, azcentral, 10 July 2018
  • By definition, a limerick is a nonsense poem of five anapestic lines, of which lines one, two and five are of three feet and rhyme and lines three and four are of two feet and rhyme.
    Richard Lederer, San Diego Union-Tribune, 11 Dec. 2021
  • And no history of the limerick, or of light verse, can escape his imposing presence.
    Junot Díaz, The New Yorker, 17 Apr. 2018
  • On the show Margaret engages in a round of dirty-limerick reciting with the U.S. president, which may not have happened in real life but certainly makes a good story.
    Emma Specter, Vogue, 18 Nov. 2019
  • In Act 2 … the show stops dead while Lewis does a stand-up routine, reciting off-color limericks, Polish jokes and rabbi stories while trying to catch but missing 16 canes that are thrown in from off-stage.
    Lawrence Toppman, charlotteobserver, 20 Aug. 2017
  • No small children have been rugby-tackled, and no prize-winning limericks have been penned about Turkey's President Erdoğan having sex with a goat.
    Isobel Thompson, The Hive, 26 Apr. 2017
  • An editor read through submissions for a St. Patrick’s Day limerick contest.
    Rick Rojas, New York Times, 27 Mar. 2017
  • None of the impressionistic muddle of rock lyrics for them; their subjects, scenarios and verbal conceits are as clear and legible as limericks.
    Nitsuh Abebe, New York Times, 29 Sep. 2017
  • The limerick packs laughs anatomical Into space that is quite economical.
    Richard Lederer, San Diego Union-Tribune, 11 Dec. 2021
  • My colleague Kari Sonde, who explored popcorn-frying the little buggers, recalled that after the recipe was published, one reader submitted a limerick suggesting she be fired.
    Washington Post, 28 Dec. 2021
  • According to reports, the limerick, below, was publically posted in the bookstore.
    Katie Van Syckle, The Cut, 23 Jan. 2018
  • John enjoyed reciting limericks, gardening and watching his children and grandchildren play sports.
    courant.com, 3 Dec. 2019

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'limerick.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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