pasquinade

American  

[pas-kwuh-neyd] / ˌpæs kwəˈneɪd /

noun

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

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verb (used with object)

pasquinaded, pasquinading

1. to assail in a pasquinade or pasquinades.

pasquinade British  

/ ˌpæskwɪˈneɪd, ˈpæskwɪl /

noun

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

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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

With which terribly severe denunciation the reader may compare the statements of a pasquinade, unsurpassed for pungent wit by any composition of the times, written apparently about a year later.

From History of the Rise of the Huguenots Vol. 1 by Baird, Henry Martyn

In fact, its St. John was then a junior at Harvard College, writing a pasquinade to post upon the Ipswich meeting-house, and Nashaway was "suffered to live without the meanes," waiting for him until 1654.

From The Bay State Monthly — Volume 2, No. 5, February, 1885 by Various

The collocation, in this case, was piquant enough to beget a clever pasquinade, which was chalked up at street corners in Paris.

From Chaucer and His England by Coulton, G. G.

And the little pasquinade is so curious, and will fill a gap in that fine collection so nicely!

From The Book-Hunter A New Edition, with a Memoir of the Author by Burton, John Hill

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 Disraeli, Benjamin, Earl of Beaconsfield