deride
Americanverb (used with object)
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derides,
present (3rd person singular)
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derided,
past participle, past
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deriding
present participle
verb
Synonym Usage
See ridicule.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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deridesimple
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deridessimple
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have deridedperfect
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has deridedperfect
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am deridingprogressive
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are deridingprogressive
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is deridingprogressive
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have been deridingperfect progressive
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has been deridingperfect progressive
Past
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deridedsimple
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had deridedperfect
-
was deridingprogressive
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were deridingprogressive
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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:
Conceptual art is easy to deride as pretentious and obfuscatory or, on the other end of the spectrum, sophomoric and heavy-handed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026
There is plenty of ludicrousness in “Tow” to love and deride alike.
From Salon ● Mar. 22, 2026
It has always been popular, and continues to be popular, to make fun of lawyers, to deride lawyers, to denigrate lawyers, and I get that we deserve a lot of what we get.
From Slate ● Mar. 17, 2025
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
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
While he pays his usual tribute of applause to cultivated eloquence, he derides the forms and phraseology of the jurisconsults, by whom the civil law was studied and practised.
From History of Roman Literature from its Earliest Period to the Augustan Age. Volume II by John Dunlop
Reconsider R-Patz: Robert Pattinson was derided for his performance in the Twilight movies, but in recent years, he has drawn comparisons to Brad Pitt.
From Slate ● Sep. 30, 2026
Some derided these savers for whining about good fortune: “My steak is too juicy and my lobster is too buttery.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
Mellencamp once derided his albums from the ’90s as “paint-by-numbers” affairs that he only made because he couldn’t get out of his record deal.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 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
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
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
What’s worse is that “Death of a Unicorn” hit theaters close to the same time the far superior satire “Common Side Effects” finished its first season, deriding the same topic.
From Salon ● Apr. 4, 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.
