The original definition of the adjective droll is amusingly odd or whimsically comical. The word comes from the French drôle, a noun meaning buffoon or scamp, so the English word should be synonymous with buffoonish.
But some writers use droll to mean deadpan, sarcastic, or muted or to describe someone with a dry sense of humor. There is no etymological basis for this, yet it is common. For example, these writers obviously don’t mean amusingly odd, whimsically comical, or buffoonish here:
Live, post-rock can sometimes feel droll and never-ending, whilst the same artist on CD can feel uplifting and euphoric. [Glasswerk.co.uk]
In “The Great Night,” his droll, dark and challenging new novel, Chris Adrian pushes that hypothesis to its limits. [San Francisco Chronicle]
Or I can switch to the droll hipster tones of Jon Miller, a perfect fit for the San Francisco Giants. [Chicago Sun-Times]
For such questionable uses of droll, alternatives such as dry, sarcastic, cynical, and wry might work better.
These writers use droll according to its traditional sense:
It bears his hallmarks, with droll physical comedy from its animated characters and a stripped down storyline that lends itself to mime. [The Virginia Pilot]
But in most other respects this wry look at British identity through the lens of football is bang on target: droll, daft and deft. [Financial Times]
Their droll humor and spot-on comedic timing reminded me of Carol Burnett and Harvey Korman in the old Carol Burnett Show skits. [Miami Herald]
