witticism

witticism
    n 1: a message whose ingenuity or verbal skill or incongruity
         has the power to evoke laughter [syn: {wit}, {humor},
         {humour}, {witticism}, {wittiness}]
    

Witticism \Wit"ti*cism\, n. [From {Witty}.]
   A witty saying; a sentence or phrase which is affectedly
   witty; an attempt at wit; a conceit. --Milton.
   [1913 Webster]

         He is full of conceptions, points of epigram, and
         witticisms; all which are below the dignity of heroic
         verse.                                   --Addison.
   [1913 Webster]
    

WITTICISM, n.  A sharp and clever remark, usually quoted, and seldom
noted; what the Philistine is pleased to call a "joke."
    

79 Moby Thesaurus words for "witticism":
      adage, ana, analects, aphorism, apothegm, axiom, bon mot, boutade,
      bright idea, bright thought, brilliant idea, byword, catchword,
      collected sayings, conceit, crack, current saying, dictate, dictum,
      distich, drollery, epigram, expression, facetiae, flash of wit,
      flight of wit, gag, gibe, gnome, golden saying, happy thought,
      jape, jest, maxim, moral, mot, motto, nasty crack, oracle,
      persiflage, phrase, pithy saying, play of wit, pleasantry, precept,
      prescript, proverb, proverbial saying, proverbs, quip,
      quips and cranks, repartee, retort, riposte, sally, saw, saying,
      scintillation, sentence, sententious expression, sloka,
      smart crack, smart saying, snappy comeback, stock saying,
      stroke of wit, sutra, teaching, text, turn of thought, verse,
      waggery, wisdom, wisdom literature, wise saying, wisecrack, word,
      words of wisdom, yak