burlesque
noun
an artistic composition, especially literary or dramatic, that, for the sake of laughter, vulgarizes lofty material or treats ordinary material with mock dignity.
burlesquing
-
present participleof burlesque.present participle
A verb form that is used in progressive verb constructions and may also function as a modifier or a gerund.
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.
In the course of sassing its forebears by burlesquing their excesses and teasing out their subtexts, the show hoots at the clichés of pop fiction and real life even as it indulges them.
From The New Yorker ● Aug. 10, 2018
The Coen brothers take aim at Cold War-era Hollywood, burlesquing its scandals, blacklist and ancient world spectaculars.
From New York Times ● Jul. 28, 2016
"Miracle!" would've looked more outrageous in the 1990s, when Savage's Greek Active troupe was burlesquing the classics.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 19, 2012
The Grand Street Follies are built upon the eminently sound principle of burlesquing all recent attractions at Manhattan theatres.
From Time Magazine Archive
But the stuff of the old Charlemagne epos is sophisticated in the brilliant pages of Ariosto, who follows Pulci and Boiardo, if not in burlesquing chivalry outright, yet in treating it with a half irony.
From A History of English Romanticism in the Nineteenth Century by Henry A. (Henry Augustin) Beers
