How to Use punch line in a Sentence

punch line

noun

• She didn't understand the punch line.
• How much longer will this state be the punch line to an old joke?
  — J.d. Crowe | [e-mail], al, 26 Feb. 2021
• The setup may have been well-worn, but the punch line was sublime.
  — Elizabeth Logan, Glamour, 13 May 2021
• Then Baffert fell silent and waited for the punch line to land.
  — Tim Layden, SI.com, 3 May 2018
• Her surname was revered by fans — but cut to a punch line by satirists.
  — New York Times, 28 June 2022
• In a way that’s too bad, because there is a snarky and timely punch line to the whole mess.
  — Gary Thompson, charlotteobserver, 12 Apr. 2018
• Under the care and feeding of Jim Dolan, the Knicks have been reduced to a punch line.
  — Gary Peterson, The Mercury News, 26 June 2019
• In a way that’s too bad, because there is snarky and timely punch line to the whole mess.
  — Gary Thompson, Philly.com, 11 Apr. 2018
• If the worst happens, Webb could become a piece of junk in space, and a punch line on Earth.
  — Marina Koren, The Atlantic, 20 Dec. 2021
• The Witch is like one of those really long jokes with a deeply stupid punch line.
  — Vulture, 31 Mar. 2023
• The punch line to all of this is—this really isn’t a new product for Heinz.
  — Chris Morris, Fortune, 28 Sep. 2023
• By the punch line, five minutes later, the crowd of donors was putty in his hands.
  — Los Angeles Times, 22 Nov. 2021
• The painting in question just seems to be crying out for a punch line.
  — Françoise Mouly, The New Yorker, 25 Oct. 2021
• In Face the Music, the transgressions of Bill’s and Ted’s boomer-era dads are not just played for laughs—they’re the punch line.
  — Devin Gordon, The Atlantic, 28 Aug. 2020
• Rather than try to tease a punch line from the tragedy of war, the episode opened by making space for something more poignant.
  — Amanda Wicks, The Atlantic, 27 Feb. 2022
• In classic form, Forte overextended the gag far past the punch line.
  — Amanda Wicks, The Atlantic, 23 Jan. 2022
• The punch line remains the same, but its potency has changed.
  — Shirley Li, The Atlantic, 16 Apr. 2022
• He’s a Batman who can deliver — and be — the punch line.
  — Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 25 Feb. 2022
• Special teams coach Cam Achord cannot be in charge of that punch line of a unit anymore.
  — Chad Finn, BostonGlobe.com, 11 Jan. 2023
• In its first decade of life, the website appeared in as many punch lines as headlines.
  — Richard Cooke, Wired, 17 Feb. 2020
• The fan base always feels like Atlanta is the punch line and that their teams don’t get enough respect.
  — Bob Brookover, Philly.com, 12 Jan. 2018
• But no one seems to ever remember the punch line, so wait for it.
  — Mike Edison, Vulture, 25 Aug. 2021
• The real punch line is many of these Marlins haven’t been Marlins.
  — Dave Hyde, sun-sentinel.com, 8 Aug. 2020
• The cartoon is, like most XKCD comics, a simple back-and-white line drawing with a nerdy punch line.
  — Benjamin Mazer, The Atlantic, 6 May 2021
• But Rickles, via Macdonald’s retelling, gets the best punch line of this clip.
  — Dan Reilly, Vulture, 15 Sep. 2021
• There are still those who respond to her tweets with the same old jokes, but Lewinsky has already beaten them to the punch and the punch line.
  — Peter Suciu, Forbes, 21 May 2021
• Also on the list of invitees: those wags who once reduced the region to a punch line.
  — New York Times, 22 Mar. 2022
• Even anorexia, which nearly killed Glück as a young woman, can be a punch line.
  — Dan Chiasson, The New Yorker, 8 Oct. 2020
• People cracked jokes—people always joke in an office full of comics—but the punch lines couldn’t erase the gut punch.
  — Kate Knibbs, Wired, 28 Jan. 2020
• Even the basic structure of many sentences follows the grammar of a joke: a setup and a punch line.
  — Theodore Gioia, The New Republic, 16 Dec. 2020

Last Updated: 28 May 2024