pasquinade

American  

[pas-kwuh-neyd] / ˌpæs kwəˈneɪd /

noun

1. a satire or lampoon, especially one posted in a public place.

---

verb (used with object)

pasquinaded, pasquinading

1. to assail in a pasquinade or pasquinades.

pasquinade British  

/ ˌpæskwɪˈneɪd /

noun

1. an abusive lampoon or satire, esp one posted in a public place

---

verb

1. (tr) to ridicule with pasquinade

Other Word Forms

• pasquinader
  noun
• pasquinian
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of pasquinade

First recorded in 1650–60; from French, from Italian pasquinata “lampoon, satire,” derivative of Italian Pasquino, supposedly the name of a local Roman schoolmaster (or tailor, or shoemaker, or barber) and the nickname given to a 3rd-century b.c. Roman statue that was unearthed in 1501 and was annually decorated and posted with verses + -ata feminine noun suffix; see origin at -ade ¹

Explanation

A pasquinade is a satire, usually done in writing and posted in public. A skit, flyer, or cartoon can be a pasquinade — as long as its intent is to mock or ridicule something or someone. You can find examples of modern pasquinades on late-night television political sketches and in newspaper political cartoons that mercilessly make fun of public figures. Today, you’re probably more likely to use a synonym for pasquinade, such as lampoon or satire. But neither of those words can say they got their name from Pasquino, a 500-year-old statue in Rome where people posted lampoons and satirical poems.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pasquinade pasquinaded

Excerpt from Author Feuchtwanger's pasquinade: He opened up his checkbook to the sky But the sky showed no expression.

From Time Magazine Archive

It is an angry pasquinade on an absurd book advocating polygamy on Biblical grounds, by the Rev. Martin Madan, Cowper's quondam spiritual counsellor.

From Cowper by Goldwin Smith

One evil effect of pasquinade and sneer is to put the prospective daughter-in-law on the defensive, and prepare her mind, unconsciously to herself, to regard her future husband's mother as her natural enemy.

From The Secret of a Happy Home (1896) by Marion Harland

A pasquinade was originally an anonymous lampoon affixed to a statue of a gladiator which still stands in Rome.

From The Romance of Words (4th ed.) by Ernest Weekley

The pasquinade with its supplements comprised no less than 351 folios, 280 of which were devoted to the answer proper.

From Historical Introductions to the Symbolical Books of the Evangelical Lutheran Church by F. (Friedrich) Bente

I was bred in the Tory camp; the Tories put me in Parliament and gave me office; I lived with them and liked them; we dined and voted together, and together pasquinaded our opponents.

From Endymion by Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield