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Ridicule - Dictionary Definition and Overview |
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Ridicule : (noun)
1: language or behavior intended to mock or humiliate
2: the act of deriding or treating with contempt [syn: derision]
(verb)
1: subject to laughter or ridicule; "The satirists ridiculed
the plans for a new opera house"; "The students poked fun
at the inexperienced teacher"; "His former students
roasted the professor at his 60th birthday" [syn: roast,
guy, blackguard, laugh at, jest at, rib, make
fun, poke fun]
Based on WordNet 2.0
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Ridicule : \Rid"i*cule\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Ridiculed;p. pr. &
vb. n. Ridiculing.]
To laugh at mockingly or disparagingly; to awaken ridicule
toward or respecting.
I 've known the young, who ridiculed his rage.
--Goldsmith.
Syn: To deride; banter; rally; burlesque; mock; satirize;
lampoon. See Deride.
Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
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Ridicule : \Rid"i*cule\, a. [F.]
Ridiculous. [Obs.]
This action . . . became so ridicule. --Aubrey.
Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
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Ridicule : \Rid"i*cule\, n. [F. ridicule, L. ridiculum a jest, fr.
ridiculus. See Ridiculous.]
1. An object of sport or laughter; a laughingstock; a
laughing matter.
[Marlborough] was so miserably ignorant, that his
deficiencies made him the ridicule of his
contemporaries. --Buckle.
To the people . . . but a trifle, to the king but a
ridicule. --Foxe.
2. Remarks concerning a subject or a person designed to
excite laughter with a degree of contempt; wit of that
species which provokes contemptuous laughter;
disparagement by making a person an object of laughter;
banter; -- a term lighter than derision.
We have in great measure restricted the meaning of
ridicule, which would properly extend over whole
region of the ridiculous, -- the laughable, -- and
we have narrowed it so that in common usage it
mostly corresponds to ``derision'', which does
indeed involve personal and offensive feelings.
--Hare.
Safe from the bar, the pulpit, and the throne, Yet
touched and shamed by ridicule alone. --Pope.
3. Quality of being ridiculous; ridiculousness. [Obs.]
To see the ridicule of this practice. --Addison.
Syn: Derision; banter; raillery; burlesque; mockery; irony;
satire; sarcasm; gibe; jeer; sneer.
Usage: Ridicule, Derision, Both words imply
disapprobation; but ridicule usually signifies
good-natured, fun-loving opposition without manifest
malice, while derision is commonly bitter and
scornful, and sometimes malignant.
Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
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