laughingstock

[laf-ing-stok, lah-fing-]

See more synonyms for laughingstock on Thesaurus.com

noun

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

First recorded in 1525–35; laughing + stock

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for laughingstock

dupe, sport, mockery, butt

Examples from the Web for laughingstock

Contemporary Examples of laughingstock

Unprepared, and a laughingstock because of his handicap, Yarvi is bullied on every front—even by his mother.
A Fantasy Titan Invades the YA Kingdom
William O’Connor
July 18, 2014
The Democrats, on the other hand, started out as a laughingstock.
Speed Read: Kenneth Vogel’s ‘Big Money’ Shows How PACs Control Politics
William O’Connor
June 9, 2014
Would Obama be the laughingstock of the country if his campaign ads featured a bubbly jingle?
The Strange History of Political Campaign Songs (VIDEO)
Kevin Fallon
October 24, 2012

Historical Examples of laughingstock

Make not thyself a laughingstock to me and such Christians as may be here.
Aurelian
William Ware
He saw his house unfinished, his wife rebellious, himself a laughingstock.
The Forsyte Saga, Complete
John Galsworthy
And now she was making a laughingstock of the lad among the neighbours.
Through Welsh Doorways
Jeannette Augustus Marks
We would be the laughingstock of Fairview and Boxer Hall if it got out.
A Quarter-Back's Pluck
Lester Chadwick
They become a laughingstock to the enemy, an irritation to their own side.
Judges and Ruth
Robert A. Watson