ironize

American  

[ahy-er-nahyz] / ˈaɪ ərˌnaɪz /

especially British,, ironise

verb (used with object)

ironized, ironizing

1. to make ironical.

2. to add iron (to a substance).

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verb (used without object)

ironized, ironizing

1. to use irony or speak ironically.

ironize British  

/ ˈaɪrəˌnaɪz /

verb

1. (intr) to use or indulge in irony

2. (tr) to make ironic or use ironically

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Other Word Forms

• ironist noun

Etymology

Origin of ironize

First recorded in 1635–45; from Greek eirōnízesthai “to pretend ignorance, dissemble, understate; treat with sarcasm”; irony ¹ ( def. ), -ize ( def. )

Example Sentences

My self-deprecating commentary—“nothing more embarrassing than being complimented on your Twitter thread”—never quite manages to ironize itself out of what it is: a plea for attention among infinite other pleas for attention.

From The Verge • Sep. 12, 2018

We have become used to titles that ironize or undercut what we are looking at, providing conceptual scaffolding for feeble visual ideas, or weak punch lines to duller jokes.

From The New Yorker • Jun. 12, 2017

It’s true that in her political writing she could slip into the kind of Earth Mother holiness that she loved to ironize in her fiction.

From The New Yorker • May 1, 2017

In Teutonic techno pokerface, the track makes Kraftwerk-like fun of smartphone marketing, a definite nose-tweak to Ocean’s sponsors at Apple, serving to ironize and queer the very medium that’s delivering the music.

From Slate • Aug. 22, 2016

To casually and sloppily take down, to ironize, to sneer comes very naturally to us, we can do it in our sleep, but to care, to try, to want, are harder.

From Slate • Oct. 27, 2011