deride
Americanverb (used with object)
-
derides,
present (3rd person singular)
-
derided,
past participle, past
-
deriding
present participle
verb
Synonym Usage
See ridicule.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
deridesimple
-
deridessimple
-
have deridedperfect
-
has deridedperfect
-
am deridingprogressive
-
are deridingprogressive
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is deridingprogressive
-
have been deridingperfect progressive
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has been deridingperfect progressive
Past
-
deridedsimple
-
had deridedperfect
-
was deridingprogressive
-
were deridingprogressive
-
had been deridingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of deride
First recorded in 1520–30; from Latin dērīdēre “to mock,” equivalent to dē- de- + rīdēre “to laugh”
Explanation
The verb deride means to speak to someone with contempt or show a low opinion of someone or something. A bully might constantly deride other kids in his class — which might lead to many afternoons spent in the principal's office. To "ride" people is to get on their case or give them a hard time, and to deride is to do the same with insulting language or poor treatment. Deride comes from the Latin root dērīdēre, meaning "to ridicule, to scorn," and it's often used to express dislike or even hatred. Criticizing something with words is a common way to deride, and politicians often deride each other in their speeches during election campaigns.
Vocabulary lists containing deride
Advanced English Words
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Warm-up, List 3
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Dubliners
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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.
See Examples For:
Emilia, by contrast, is a strikingly modern figure in her cynical assessments of the hypocrisy of a culture that will deride women for sexual behavior that wouldn’t be censured in men.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 1, 2026
Today many on the right still deride the Carter years but as the decades passed, his humanitarian efforts and simple lifestyle began to shape a new legacy for many Americans.
From BBC ● Dec. 29, 2024
OK, you get up there, they're going to rap each other off and they're supposed to deride and blast each other.
From Salon ● May 18, 2024
Those protesters deride the project as “Cop City.”
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 1, 2024
M. M. C.’s letter is just one of many that deride Joey’s arrival.
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
Proudly, he informs the class that the protest that Didion derides led to the establishment of the first ethnic studies department in the United States.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 8, 2026
Among the low performers are one that he derides as packed with tourists, another "with barking dogs," and a third he says is "quiet but with no one to talk to."
From Barron's ● Mar. 8, 2026
The American Mini Pig Association derides the use of terms like “teacup” as misleading and discourages promises of adult pigs under 75 pounds in its code of ethics.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 3, 2026
With searing yet quiet familiarity, Victor derides the way trauma is handled with callous frigidity.
From Salon ● Jul. 28, 2025
Marabout has bent To the Commercial Dagon He publicly derides; but many here Will toast 'his genuine grit, his manly cheer,' Over a friendly flagon.
From Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 98, February 8, 1890 by Various
She lives in the deprived East Marsh area of Grimsby, a neighbourhood she says is often derided as a place of crime and unemployment.
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026
The vote was widely derided by democracy monitors abroad, but China supports it as recreating a semblance of normality, analysts say.
From Barron's ● Jul. 10, 2026
Many on Wall Street have long derided the retail crowd as “dumb money” — a reputation largely earned during the dot-com bubble, and reinforced during the 2021 meme-stock frenzy.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 1, 2026
These three-minute pauses, which occur midway through each half, have been derided around the globe as commercial land grabs that cater to sponsors, break up momentum, and violate the spirit of soccer.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 24, 2026
Galton may have derided the “microscope” of experimental geneticists, but the tool was far more powerful than Galton had presumed, for it could penetrate the outer shell of heredity into the mechanism itself.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
He was on “Larry King Live” two months later, deriding his detractors.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2026
That is exactly what happened this week in an Irish podcast involving former international Andrew Trimble and Hollywood actor Jamie Dornan, with the pair deriding Welsh rugby.
From BBC ● Mar. 6, 2026
It was perhaps inevitable that judges would bristle at a government spokeswoman deriding them as hacks.
From Slate ● Feb. 18, 2026
He was popular, but for a long time the critics condescended to him, calling him a lightweight Sunday painter and deriding him for his “matchstick” figures.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2025
How I blessed those stolid, flannelled figures, for in a few minutes his face had settled back into repose, the colour had returned, and he was deriding the Surrey bowling in healthy irritation.
From "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier
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.
