ridicule

[rid-i-kyool]

See more synonyms for ridicule on Thesaurus.com

noun

speech or action intended to cause contemptuous laughter at a person or thing; derision.

verb (used with object), rid·i·culed, rid·i·cul·ing.

to deride; make fun of.

Origin of ridicule

1665–75; < Latin rīdiculum a joke, equivalent to rīd(ēre) to laugh + -i- -i- + -culum -cule²

Related formsrid·i·cul·er, nounself-rid·i·cule, nounun·rid·i·culed, adjective

Synonyms for ridicule

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1. mockery, raillery, sarcasm, satire, irony. 2. banter, chaff, rally, twit, burlesque, satirize, lampoon. 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.

Antonyms for ridicule

praise.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for ridiculing

taunt, scoff, lampoon, deride, scorn, mock, humiliate, rag, twit, takeoff, rally, quiz, rib, caricature, jape, josh, jolly, haze, travesty, pooh-pooh

Examples from the Web for ridiculing

Contemporary Examples of ridiculing

This proposition Heller takes considerable pleasure in ridiculing.
David's Bookclub: Catch-22
David Frum
December 29, 2012

Historical Examples of ridiculing

Why it would be ridiculing you to suppose you could believe him.
The Macdermots of Ballycloran
Anthony Trollope
He allowed himself the pleasure of ridiculing his Louvain antagonists.
Erasmus and the Age of Reformation
Johan Huizinga
And what can more successfully annoy than the ridiculing of that which a man worships?
Debts of Honor
Maurus Jkai
Intelligent people in the East are studying, not ridiculing the West.
The Land We Live In
Henry Mann
After laughing at and ridiculing him, as is the custom with us, I asked how he could make them out?
La Ronge Journal, 1823
George Nelson

British Dictionary definitions for ridiculing

ridicule

noun

language or behaviour intended to humiliate or mock; derision

verb

(tr) to make fun of, mock, or deride

Derived Formsridiculer, noun

Word Origin for ridicule

C17: from French, from Latin rīdiculus, from rīdēre to laugh

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for ridiculing

ridicule

1680s, "make ridiculous," from ridicule (n.) or else from French ridiculer, from ridicule. Meaning "make fun of" is from c.1700. Related: Ridiculed; ridiculing.

ridicule

1670s, "absurd thing;" 1680s, "words or actions meant to invoke ridicule," from French ridicule, noun use of adjective (15c.), or from Latin ridiculum "laughing matter, joke," from noun use of neuter of ridiculus (see ridiculous).

"He who brings ridicule to bear against truth, finds in his hand a blade without a hilt." [Walter Savage Landor, "Imaginary Conversations"]