laughingstock
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of laughingstock
Explanation
If you're a laughingstock, you're the butt of jokes or the subject of mockery. If you always wear shiny purple polka-dotted pants to school, you might be a laughingstock — or you might be a trendsetter. Someone who's a laughingstock is ridiculed or mocked, often by a group of people rather than just one or two. When you feel like a laughingstock, you're humiliated, taunted or even a victim of practical jokes and pranks. Stock was once commonly used to mean "dull recipient of some action" in now-obsolete words like "whipping-stock," "jesting-stock," and "gaping-stock."
Vocabulary lists containing laughingstock
Dawn
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One for the Murphys
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"The Southpaw"
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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.
The Pirates have been a perpetual laughingstock ever since Barry Bonds ditched the Allegheny for the San Francisco Bay after leading Pittsburgh to the National League Championship Series in 1992.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 9, 2026
The backlash makes her a laughingstock and scuttles her career.
From Los Angeles Times • May 27, 2025
Tom Brady and the New England Patriots rallied for a 34-28 overtime victory, which made Atlanta a national laughingstock.
From Seattle Times • Apr. 22, 2024
Lopez quickly became a laughingstock on TikTok following the release of her musical film “This Is Me... Now: A Love Story,” which critics described as “confusing” and straight up ludicrous.
From Salon • Apr. 5, 2024
But I was still shy and half paralyzed when in the presence of a crowd, and my first day at the new school made me the laughingstock of the classroom.
From "Black Boy" by Richard Wright
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.
