ridicule
Americannoun
verb (used with object)
noun
verb
Synonym Usage
Ridicule, deride, mock, taunt imply making game of a person, usually in an unkind, jeering way. To ridicule is to make fun of, either sportively and good-humoredly, or unkindly with the intention of humiliating: to ridicule a pretentious person. To deride is to assail one with scornful laughter: to deride a statement of belief. To mock is sometimes playfully, sometimes insultingly, to imitate and caricature the appearance or actions of another: She mocked the seriousness of his expression. To taunt is to call attention to something annoying or humiliating, usually maliciously and exultingly and often in the presence of others: to taunt a candidate about his defeat in an election.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Conjugated Forms
Present
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have ridiculedperfect
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has ridiculedperfect 3rd person singular
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ridiculessingular 3rd person
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are ridiculingprogressive
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am ridiculingprogressive 1st person singular
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has been ridiculingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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have been ridiculingperfect progressive
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is ridiculingprogressive 3rd person singular
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ridiculingparticiple
Past
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had ridiculedperfect
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were ridiculingprogressive plural
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was ridiculingprogressive singular
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ridiculedsimple
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ridiculedparticiple
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had been ridiculingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of ridicule
First recorded in 1665–75; from Latin rīdiculum “a joke,” equivalent to rīdēre “to laugh” + -i- -i- + -culum -cule 2
Explanation
When you ridicule someone, you mock or make fun of them. They become the object of your ridicule or mockery. Your bad behavior might bring ridicule on your parents, who raised you to know better. The word ridicule is related to ridiculous. If you ridicule a friend, you try to make them look ridiculous. But now that isn't very friendly! Both words come from the Latin redire which means to laugh. When you are ridiculed, you are made a laughing stock, but being the object of ridicule is never funny.
Vocabulary lists containing ridicule
List 6
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English Words Derived from French, List 1
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Excerpt from "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Ridicule and moral superiority can too easily close the door to honest dialogue, while empathy and understanding, difficult as they may be, open the path to genuine transformation.
From Salon • Nov. 22, 2025
Ridicule the Horned Frogs if you must, but know that Georgia could have made almost any challenger seem unworthy.
From Washington Post • Jan. 9, 2023
Ridicule, the more buffoonish the better, is a well-used tool in the unpicking of Fascist ideology, and Waititi cleaves to the Brooksian principle: that which does not kill me makes me ruder.
From The New Yorker • Oct. 18, 2019
Ridicule, you see, is the last great death of a culture.
From Seattle Times • Feb. 13, 2019
“Part of this woman’s trouble is that kind of attitude. Ridicule she doesn’t need.”
From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
