mockery
Americannoun
-
mockeries
plural
-
ridicule, contempt, or derision.
-
a derisive, imitative action or speech.
-
a subject or occasion of derision.
-
an imitation, especially of a ridiculous or unsatisfactory kind.
- Synonyms:
- mimicry
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a mocking pretense; travesty.
a mockery of justice.
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something absurdly or offensively inadequate or unfitting.
noun
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ridicule, contempt, or derision
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a derisive action or comment
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an imitation or pretence, esp a derisive one
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a person or thing that is mocked
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a person, thing, or action that is inadequate or disappointing
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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.”
Vocabulary lists containing mockery
"The Tell-Tale Heart," Vocabulary from the short story
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"On Women's Right to Vote" by Susan B. Anthony
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"Macbeth" Vocabulary from Act III
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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.
See Examples For:
Burnham's exploits online have already brought mockery and launched a thousand memes.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
Now, after much mockery and controversy, minimalist footwear is hotter than ever.
From Slate ● Jul. 16, 2026
The Dodgers could make a mockery of the National League West by trading for Skubal, who won the last two American League Cy Young awards for the Detroit Tigers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 13, 2026
A "Great American State Fair" in the capital designed as a celebration of the country's birthday has drawn sparse crowds and widespread mockery for its empty booths.
From Barron's ● Jul. 3, 2026
He said bhaiyya ingratiatingly, cloyingly, making it a mockery of the word.
From "When Dimple Met Rishi" by Sandhya Menon
Banksy often invokes everyday British life, with references to the Tesco supermarket chain and mockeries of Parliament and the royal family.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 13, 2022
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
Boston Dynamics’ creatures are like cruel, surreal techno-parodies of organic life, absurdist mockeries of living things.
From Slate ● Dec. 20, 2013
Which proves my point about who, exactly, makes mockeries of these things.
From Salon ● Sep. 24, 2010
She knew the ghastly mockeries which later come to haunt these houses of dreams.
From She Buildeth Her House by William Wistar Comfort
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.
