mockery

American  

[mok-uh-ree] / ˈmɒk ə ri /

noun

• mockeries
  plural

1. ridicule, contempt, or derision.

2. a derisive, imitative action or speech.

3. a subject or occasion of derision.

4. an imitation, especially of a ridiculous or unsatisfactory kind.

   Synonyms:

   mimicry

5. a mocking pretense; travesty.

   a mockery of justice.

6. something absurdly or offensively inadequate or unfitting.

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mockery British  

/ ˈmɒkərɪ /

noun

1. ridicule, contempt, or derision

2. a derisive action or comment

3. an imitation or pretence, esp a derisive one

4. a person or thing that is mocked

5. a person, thing, or action that is inadequate or disappointing

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• self-mockery
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• mockeries
  plural

Etymology

Origin of mockery

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English moquerie, from Middle French; equivalent to mock + -ery

Explanation

The noun mockery means ridicule or making a fool out of someone. Mockery of your history teacher is unwise just before she grades your mid-term exams. Mockery is making fun of or mocking someone or something. The act of mockery often involves copying someone's behavior or speech, making it look absurd, like a parody. For example, comedians often get laughs with mockery, by pretending to be famous politicians and exaggerating the way they talk or gesture. The expression "to make a mockery of" means to make something appear foolish or absurd, even if that’s not the intent — like a trial that “makes a mockery of justice.”

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

mockery mockeries

Some of those videos were subsequently shared on social media and led to cases of mockery or hateful messages, leading to the Paris public prosecutor opening an investigation.

From Barron's ● Oct. 5, 2026

And Ms. Bioh has the girls’ attitudes to her take an implausibly abrupt turn from sycophancy to snickering mockery when Ericka exposes the hollowness of her pretensions.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026

At first, the relationship was mostly the source of mockery that someone of the his stature apparently needs a full-time ego masseuse who often totes around enormous bags, which have generated speculation about their contents.

From Salon ● Sep. 23, 2026

Now, after much mockery and controversy, minimalist footwear is hotter than ever.

From Slate ● Jul. 16, 2026

To tell me that I had already a wife is empty mockery: you know now that I had but a hideous demon.

From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë

Why have our finest actors been forced to make mockeries of themselves, looking like the Jolly Green Giant if he were holding a normal-sized microphone?

From Salon ● Jan. 11, 2026

Mena believes the Black Paintings to be mockeries in the same spirit – cartoons he drew around himself as if the walls were “big sheets of paper”.

From The Guardian ● Jan. 30, 2019

The mockeries in this “Henry V” do point to truths — and they’re also a lot of fun.

From Washington Post ● Oct. 25, 2018

Boston Dynamics’ creatures are like cruel, surreal techno-parodies of organic life, absurdist mockeries of living things.

From Slate ● Dec. 20, 2013

He followed, murmuring words of sorrowful regret; but to me his heart-felt condolences seemed only the bitterest of mockeries.

From A Volunteer with Pike The True Narrative of One Dr. John Robinson and of His Love for the Fair Señorita Vallois by Robert Ames Bennet

Related Words

• contempt
• derision
• disdain
• ridicule
• scorn