laughingstock

[ laf-ing-stok, lah-fing- ]
See synonyms for laughingstock on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. an object of ridicule; the butt of a joke or the like: His ineptness as a public official made him the laughingstock of the whole town.

Origin of laughingstock

1
First recorded in 1525–35; laughing + stock

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use laughingstock in a sentence

  • And if it so impressed him, might it not also make her something of a laughing-stock among her people, as she liked to call them?

    Joyce's Investments | Fannie E. Newberry
  • Not many people do that, but those that do are the laughing-stock of the world.

    Patchwork | Anna Balmer Myers
  • Was she going to make herself the laughing-stock of the place?

    Colonial Born | G. Firth Scott

British Dictionary definitions for laughing stock

laughing stock

noun
  1. an object of humiliating ridicule: his mistakes have made him a laughing stock

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012