gallows humor
noun
: humor that makes fun of a life-threatening, disastrous, or terrifying situation
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web Several moments of gallows humor are genuinely funny. 
Odie Henderson, BostonGlobe.com, 25 Aug. 2022 If your teen has a healthy dose of gallows humor, this pencil holder would be right up their alley. Marisa Lascala, Good Housekeeping, 17 July 2022 In 2017, a documentary about Gottfried showcased a different side of the man behind the raunchy gallows humor. Christi Carrasstaff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 12 Apr. 2022 There was plenty of anger too, and a healthy dose of gallows humor. Shirley Leung, BostonGlobe.com, 24 July 2022 The Times caught up with Carmichael to discuss the current climate of comedy, coming out before a crowd of strangers and making a movie about suicide that balances gallows humor with emotional truth. Kayla James, Los Angeles Times, 13 May 2022 And Garland, like a coroner performing an autopsy, surveys his specimen with clinical rigor, gallows humor and the faintest hint of sorrow. Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times, 20 May 2022 That one dry exchange captures the spirit — the fatalism, the gallows humor, the recognition that the system doesn’t work and the pride in sticking with it anyway — that drove the entire series. New York Times, 2 June 2022 Second, and rather unexpectedly, the sequences are sprinkled with gallows humor. Ilana Masad, Los Angeles Times, 25 May 2022 See More
Odie Henderson, BostonGlobe.com, 25 Aug. 2022 If your teen has a healthy dose of gallows humor, this pencil holder would be right up their alley. Marisa Lascala, Good Housekeeping, 17 July 2022 In 2017, a documentary about Gottfried showcased a different side of the man behind the raunchy gallows humor. Christi Carrasstaff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 12 Apr. 2022 There was plenty of anger too, and a healthy dose of gallows humor. Shirley Leung, BostonGlobe.com, 24 July 2022 The Times caught up with Carmichael to discuss the current climate of comedy, coming out before a crowd of strangers and making a movie about suicide that balances gallows humor with emotional truth. Kayla James, Los Angeles Times, 13 May 2022 And Garland, like a coroner performing an autopsy, surveys his specimen with clinical rigor, gallows humor and the faintest hint of sorrow. Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times, 20 May 2022 That one dry exchange captures the spirit — the fatalism, the gallows humor, the recognition that the system doesn’t work and the pride in sticking with it anyway — that drove the entire series. New York Times, 2 June 2022 Second, and rather unexpectedly, the sequences are sprinkled with gallows humor. Ilana Masad, Los Angeles Times, 25 May 2022 See More Word History
First Known Use
1901, in the meaning defined above