mock

[mok]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR mock ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object)

to attack or treat with ridicule, contempt, or derision.

to ridicule by mimicry of action or speech; mimic derisively.

to mimic, imitate, or counterfeit.

to challenge; defy: His actions mock convention.

to deceive, delude, or disappoint.

verb (used without object)

to use ridicule or derision; scoff; jeer (often followed by at).

noun

a contemptuous or derisive imitative action or speech; mockery or derision.

something mocked or derided; an object of derision.

an imitation; counterfeit; fake.

Shipbuilding.

a hard pattern representing the surface of a plate with a warped form, upon which the plate is beaten to shape after furnacing.
bed(def 23).

adjective

feigned; not real; sham: a mock battle.

Verb Phrases

mock up, to build a mock-up of.

Origin of mock

1400–50; late Middle English mokken < Middle French mocquer

Related formsmock·a·ble, adjectivemock·er, nounmock·ing·ly, adverbself-mock·ing, adjectiveun·mocked, adjectiveun·mock·ing, adjectiveun·mock·ing·ly, adverb

Synonyms for mock

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR mock ON THESAURUS.COM

1. deride; taunt, flout, gibe; chaff, tease. See ridicule. 5. cheat, dupe, fool, mislead.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for mock

make-believe, bogus, phony, simulated, tease, taunt, scoff, insult, deride, scorn, parody, imitate, lampoon, satirize, belie, defy, betray, dummy, ersatz, pseudo

Examples from the Web for mock

Contemporary Examples of mock

Satirists are reliant ultimately on the very establishment they mock.
Harry Shearer on The Dangerous Business of Satire
Lloyd Grove
January 8, 2015
Dogs were used in the interrogations, and the accused were subjected to mock executions.
The Myth of the Central Park Five
Edward Conlon
October 19, 2014
Despite the lack of an immediate impact, the mock vote infused the practice of democracy into the lives of Hongkongers.
Is Hong Kong Tiananmen 2.0?
Brendon Hong
September 29, 2014
This year, Hongkongers participated in PopVote, a mock referendum that gathered nearly 800,000 votes via smartphone ballots.
Is Hong Kong Tiananmen 2.0?
Brendon Hong
September 29, 2014
Akbar used his time on the stand to mock Kimberlin some more.
The Weirdest Story About a Conservative Obsession, a Convicted Bomber, and Taylor Swift You Have Ever Read
David Weigel
August 30, 2014

Historical Examples of mock

To treat a child wholly as an adult would be to mock and destroy it.
A Treatise on Parents and Children
George Bernard Shaw
"He's a bad boy," said the Bookmaker, in a tone of mock condemnation.
Thoroughbreds
W. A. Fraser
Meeting Casanova in the entry, he gave him precedence with mock politeness.
Casanova's Homecoming
Arthur Schnitzler
Like the forfeits in a barbers shop, As much in mock as mark.
Cleveland Past and Present
Maurice Joblin
Nor were they the most horrible of those dreams in which she would help him to mock me.
Wilfrid Cumbermede
George MacDonald

British Dictionary definitions for mock

mock

verb

(when intr, often foll by at) to behave with scorn or contempt (towards); show ridicule (for)

(tr) to imitate, esp in fun; mimic

(tr) to deceive, disappoint, or delude

(tr) to defy or frustratethe team mocked the visitors' attempt to score

noun

the act of mocking

a person or thing mocked

a counterfeit; imitation

(often plural) informal (in England and Wales) the school examinations taken as practice before public examinations

adjective (prenominal)

sham or counterfeit

serving as an imitation or substitute, esp for practice purposesa mock battle; mock finals

Word Origin for mock

C15: from Old French mocquer

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

Word Origin and History for mock

early 15c., "to deceive;" mid-15c. "make fun of," from Old French mocquer "deride, jeer," of unknown origin, perhaps from Vulgar Latin *muccare "to blow the nose" (as a derisive gesture), from Latin mucus; or possibly from Middle Dutch mocken "to mumble" or Middle Low German mucken "grumble." Or perhaps simply imitative of such speech. Related: Mocked; mocking; mockingly. Replaced Old English bysmerian. Sense of "imitating," as in mockingbird and mock turtle (1763), is from notion of derisive imitation.

adj.

1540s, from mock, verb and noun. Mock-heroic is attested from 1711; mock-turtle "calf's head dressed to resemble a turtle," is from 1763; as a kind of soup from 1783.

"derisive action or speech," early 15c., from mock (v.).