caricature
Americannoun
-
caricatures
plural
-
a picture, description, etc., ludicrously exaggerating the peculiarities or defects of persons or things.
His caricature of the mayor in this morning's paper is the best he's ever drawn.
- Synonyms:
- cartoon
-
the art or process of producing such pictures, descriptions, etc.
-
any imitation or copy so distorted or inferior as to be ludicrous.
- Synonyms:
- travesty
verb (used with object)
-
caricatures,
present (3rd person singular)
-
caricatured,
past participle, past
-
caricaturing
present participle
noun
-
a pictorial, written, or acted representation of a person, which exaggerates his characteristic traits for comic effect
-
a ludicrously inadequate or inaccurate imitation
he is a caricature of a statesman
verb
Synonym Usage
See burlesque.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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caricaturistnoun
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self-caricaturenoun
-
caricaturableadjective
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caricaturaladjective
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semicaricaturaladjective
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uncaricaturedadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
caricaturesimple
-
caricaturessimple
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have caricaturedperfect
-
has caricaturedperfect
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am caricaturingprogressive
-
are caricaturingprogressive
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is caricaturingprogressive
-
have been caricaturingperfect progressive
-
has been caricaturingperfect progressive
Past
-
caricaturedsimple
-
had caricaturedperfect
-
was caricaturingprogressive
-
were caricaturingprogressive
-
had been caricaturingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of caricature
1740–50; earlier caricatura < Italian, equivalent to caricat(o) loaded, i.e., distorted (past participle of caricare; see charge) + -ura -ure
Explanation
A caricature is a satirical, exaggerated portrayal of a person. You'd better not caricature your father by walking bent-over and speaking in his high voice. If he catches you, you'll be in trouble! An exaggeration of a person's character results in a caricature. While this might help you to remember its meaning, don't let the spelling confuse you. Character has an "h" but caricature does not. If you're so excited about something that you feel a little out of control, you might seem like a caricature of yourself to your friends. You can use this word as a verb too. Presidents and other prominent politicians are often caricatured in political cartoons.
Vocabulary lists containing caricature
Literary Devices & Figures of Speech - Introductory
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"To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee, Chapters 7–11
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100 SAT words Beginning with "C"
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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:
“We have to separate Berkeley from the caricature of Berkeley that some people had in their mind 60 years ago,” he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026
Like all of those after-school specials, there’s a distinct element of gratitude that helps the film transcend accusations of corniness or caricature.
From Salon ● Jun. 22, 2026
He said the pair had an "agreeable" conversation, adding he did not agree with Vance's "caricature" of Western civilisation and its perceived decline.
From BBC ● Jun. 7, 2026
The former correspondent for “The Daily Show” hosted “The Colbert Report” for nine years, performing as a caricature of a conservative blowhard.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 21, 2026
A part of him—indeed, a large part—was enjoying this charade, this moment wherein he plunged headfirst into this caricature the humans had created.
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
Skrepetsky was known for his caricatures of Vladimir Putin and other prominent Russians, many of them Kremlin-linked.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 18, 2026
Their testimonials on our website demonstrate that they are real, complex human beings, not caricatures.
From Salon ● Jun. 8, 2026
Characters are caricatures, be it a villain that feels plucked from a cartoon western, complete with a purring raccoon for a sidekick, to a greedy wannabe politician of a bank manager.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 17, 2026
Brahim Chnina, the Moroccan father of a schoolgirl who falsely claimed that Paty had asked Muslim students to leave his classroom before showing the caricatures, was sentenced to 13 years.
From Barron's ● Jan. 26, 2026
Sean pulled out a chart with caricatures he had drawn of every member of the varsity and JV basketball teams.
From "Here to Stay" by Sara Farizan
"Magyar will want, as he did during the campaign, not to be caricatured as being a pawn of Brussels; do not expect him to say yes to everything," said an EU diplomat.
From Barron's ● Apr. 13, 2026
"Where Dhar takes the biggest swing is in his portrayal of Pakistan. It is not caricatured, but surprisingly nuanced, especially politically," writes Vineeta Kumar on India Today's website.
From BBC ● Dec. 12, 2025
During Newby’s tenure as chief justice, a cartoon has hung in the Supreme Court depicting him as Superman, surrounded by a coterie of conservative appellate justices caricatured as other members of DC Comics’ Justice League.
From Salon ● Oct. 31, 2025
One worrisome trend, they said, is the production of highly caricatured “War of Resistance god-tier dramas” that feature ludicrously unrealistic story lines and scenes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 27, 2025
The story was caricatured as ‘coarse, primitive and vulgar’.
From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall
Proxmire became addicted to the fawning press attention he got from caricaturing serious scientific research as ludicrous.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 10, 2025
By 2017, Saturday Night Live was caricaturing Ms Trump in a mock advertisement for a perfume called "Complicit."
From BBC ● Nov. 7, 2023
Surratt, neither caricaturing nor condescending to Lot, is astonishing.
From New York Times ● Jun. 22, 2022
“But I promise you that dismissing or caricaturing these kinds of voters — our fellow citizens — is not the way to win them back. And there’s no path to victory without winning them back.”
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 24, 2021
The Bulletin had a wicked page of drawings caricaturing Parkes’ wrath as he read these items.
From Fifty-One Years of Victorian Life by Margaret Elizabeth Leigh Child-Villiers
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.
