Definition of "deadpan" []

• A blank, expressionless face. (noun)
• A person, especially a performer, who has or assumes a blank expression. (noun)
• Impassively matter-of-fact, as in style, behavior, or expression: deadpan delivery of the joke. (adjective)
• With a blank, expressionless face. (adverb)
• To express in an impassive, matter-of-fact way. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Otherwise, if they just do what I call a deadpan interpretation, you miss the emphasis and you miss the real importance of what your Russian counterpart is saying."
• "I ran up to find him lying there on fire while the game noted in deadpan text "Your friend is hurt"."
• "[S] ly humor and a certain deadpan zaniness give literary conventions an ironic twist, with hilarious results."