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

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

From Time Magazine Archive

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

Major Caskie—who ever went into battle with a smile on his lips—found time, between fights, for broad pasquinade on folly about him, with pen and pencil.

From Four Years in Rebel Capitals An Inside View of Life in the Southern Confederacy from Birth to Death by DeLeon, T. C.

At the end of this document is added a copy of a pasquinade which appeared at that time in Manila, lampooning the governor and his adherents.

From The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century, Volume XXVI, 1636 by Blair, Emma Helen

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