| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| ridicule |
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| SYLLABICATION: | rid·i·cule |
| PRONUNCIATION: |  r d -ky l |
| NOUN: | Words or actions intended to evoke contemptuous laughter at or feelings toward a person or thing: “I know that ridicule may be a shield, but it is not a weapon” (Dorothy Parker). | | TRANSITIVE VERB: | Inflected forms: rid·i·culed, rid·i·cul·ing, rid·i·cules
To expose to ridicule; make fun of. | | ETYMOLOGY: | French, from Latin r diculum, joke, from neuter of rdiculus, laughable. See ridiculous. | | OTHER FORMS: | ridi·culer —NOUN
| | SYNONYMS: | ridicule, mock, taunt1, twit, deride These verbs refer to making another the butt of amusement or mirth. Ridicule implies purposeful disparagement: “My father discouraged me by ridiculing my performances” (Benjamin Franklin). To mock is to poke fun at someone, often by mimicking and caricaturing speech or actions: “Seldom he smiles, and smiles in such a sort/As if he mock'd himself, and scorn'd his spirit” (Shakespeare). Taunt suggests mocking, insulting, or scornful reproach: “taunting him with want of courage to leap into the great pit” (Daniel Defoe). To twit is to taunt by calling attention to something embarrassing: “The schoolmaster was twitted about the lady who threw him over” (J.M. Barrie). Deride implies scorn and contempt: “Was all the world in a conspiracy to deride his failure?” (Edith Wharton, The Bolted Door 1908.)
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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