ridicule
Americannoun
verb (used with object)
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ridicules,
present (3rd person singular)
-
ridiculed,
past participle, past
-
ridiculing
present participle
noun
verb
Synonym Usage
Ridicule, deride, mock, taunt imply making game of a person, usually in an unkind, jeering way. To ridicule is to make fun of, either sportively and good-humoredly, or unkindly with the intention of humiliating: to ridicule a pretentious person. To deride is to assail one with scornful laughter: to deride a statement of belief. To mock is sometimes playfully, sometimes insultingly, to imitate and caricature the appearance or actions of another: She mocked the seriousness of his expression. To taunt is to call attention to something annoying or humiliating, usually maliciously and exultingly and often in the presence of others: to taunt a candidate about his defeat in an election.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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ridiculesimple
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ridiculessimple
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have ridiculedperfect
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has ridiculedperfect
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am ridiculingprogressive
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are ridiculingprogressive
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is ridiculingprogressive
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have been ridiculingperfect progressive
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has been ridiculingperfect progressive
Past
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ridiculedsimple
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had ridiculedperfect
-
was ridiculingprogressive
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were ridiculingprogressive
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had been ridiculingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of ridicule
First recorded in 1665–75; from Latin rīdiculum “a joke,” equivalent to rīdēre “to laugh” + -i- -i- + -culum -cule 2
Explanation
When you ridicule someone, you mock or make fun of them. They become the object of your ridicule or mockery. Your bad behavior might bring ridicule on your parents, who raised you to know better. The word ridicule is related to ridiculous. If you ridicule a friend, you try to make them look ridiculous. But now that isn't very friendly! Both words come from the Latin redire which means to laugh. When you are ridiculed, you are made a laughing stock, but being the object of ridicule is never funny.
Vocabulary lists containing ridicule
English Words Derived from French, List 1
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List 6
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Excerpt from "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer"
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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:
Atletico often use their social media accounts to respond to rivals, repeatedly posting on X this summer to ridicule Barcelona over their pursuit of Atletico's talisman Julian Alvarez.
From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026
The public ridicule remained ceaseless, but alleged tension was also brewing behind palace walls.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2026
"He was being subjected to relentless scrutiny, including ridicule, discrediting absolutely every detail of his life," Baron-Cohen said.
From Barron's ● Aug. 15, 2026
It was a humiliating showing for the 63-year-old Bucknor, drawing ridicule from players and fans alike.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
Cartoons continued to ridicule Catherine O’Leary and curious tourists came to gawk at the O’Learys’ property.
From "The Great Fire" by Jim Murphy
The premise is simple — Scorsese, perfectionist filmmaker, mercilessly ridicules the photos he took of his nephew’s birthday party — but it’s his deadpan performance that really sells the joke.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2025
When Harris doubts or ridicules his stature, his wealth, the size of his crowds, or whatever, he feels compelled to fight back and restore his eminent centrality at once.
From Slate ● Sep. 11, 2024
A majority of consumers of Asian and Pacific Islander descent are not willing to shrug off media and advertising that ridicules or mishandles their culture.
From Seattle Times ● May 1, 2024
Libii’s story underlines the self-negation involved in the trope of the title and ridicules the expectations and constraints forced upon Black people in myriad ways.
From New York Times ● Mar. 15, 2024
He doesn’t take their money and usually doesn’t shove them, but he ridicules them.
From "Marcus Vega Doesn't Speak Spanish" by Pablo Cartaya
However, Kim Yo Jong ridiculed Lee's latest overture, calling it "the climax of the farce that everyone should watch."
From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026
They had transformed themselves from the ridiculed Clip Joint to a top-shelf NBA organization, but they now have been affixed with a scarlet eight letters that will follow them forever: cheaters.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026
Then-Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg even made it a point to ride his bike to work, a choice that Trump ridiculed.
From Salon ● Aug. 27, 2026
Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, Arday’s friend and former colleague, told the BBC on Saturday that he saw Arday’s mental health worsen as he was ridiculed in the press.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
The arts maybe draw in more gays than any other area because of that feeling of being able to have self-expression without being condemned or labeled or ridiculed or bashed.”
From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove
At a demonstration outside the Parliament building in the Bulgarian capital, a giant screen looped videos and memes ridiculing politicians.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 11, 2025
To say there even is such a thing reduces a wildly diverse group into a trite narrative that I’ve spent my career trying to debunk, when not ridiculing it altogether.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2024
Raising his phone to capture the confrontation on video, the senator began ridiculing her.
From New York Times ● May 26, 2024
Both Daniels and Trump, who is the actual defendant, come out of these exchanges sounding like schoolchildren ridiculing each other.
From Slate ● May 10, 2024
No longer did I feel the ridiculing eyes boring into me as I walked the halls of C Average.
From "Schooled" by Gordon Korman
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.
