satirize
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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satirizationnoun
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satirizernoun
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nonsatirizingadjective
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satirizableadjective
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unsatirizableadjective
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unsatirizedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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satirizesimple
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satirizessimple
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have satirizedperfect
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has satirizedperfect
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am satirizingprogressive
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are satirizingprogressive
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is satirizingprogressive
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have been satirizingperfect progressive
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has been satirizingperfect progressive
Past
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satirizedsimple
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had satirizedperfect
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was satirizingprogressive
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were satirizingprogressive
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had been satirizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of satirize
Explanation
When you cleverly make fun of something, you satirize it. Political cartoons, for example, satirize current events and politicians using clever drawings and captions. When a writer criticizes something using humor, she satirizes it. Playwrights and filmmakers often satirize ridiculous social customs by reflecting them in exaggerated ways, for example. Ideally, when an artist satirizes society, she hopes to encourage positive changes by making people feel ashamed or embarrassed. The root of satirize is the noun satire, which in classical Latin meant a kind of poem that "ridiculed vice or folly."
Vocabulary lists containing satirize
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:
But in her novel, rather than satirize or steamroll, Shriver takes her open-armed and open-borders characters as seriously and empathetically as her anti-immigration ones.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 31, 2026
Just two years after “Cruise” debuted, duo Maddie & Tae had heard enough about arm candy and daisy dukes to satirize the subgenre’s views on women with 2015’s “Girl in a Country Song.”
From Salon ● May 16, 2025
West then compared his fate to that of Randy Newman, whose song “Rednecks” controversially uses an epithet for Black people to satirize racism.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 9, 2025
The fourth deals with a witch, giving them a chance to satirize conspiracy theorists.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 28, 2024
And there is always the non-productive brotherhood of critics to disparage and to satirize, to view with horror and contempt.
From "Travels with Charley in Search of America" by John Steinbeck
Eminem’s latest satirizes the culture wars tying the nation up in knots — as well as his participation in them.
From Salon ● Aug. 30, 2024
Would you say this movie not only satirizes white Americans, but also Black Americans?
From New York Times ● Mar. 13, 2024
Sennott and Edebiri deliver two of the funniest performances of the year, while Seligman savagely satirizes the teen movie genre that has reflected and shaped our cultural understanding of young women.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2023
It's this ridiculous thriller that satirizes the publishing industry by looking at the relationship between two friends: a white writer and an Asian writer.
From Salon ● May 16, 2023
Seneca severely satirizes the ceremony, and the popular belief which upheld it, in an elaborate lampoon called Apocolocyntosis, or the reception of Claudius among the pumpkins.
From The Destiny of the Soul A Critical History of the Doctrine of a Future Life by Alger, William Rounseville
After comedian Michelle Wolf satirized the president, Sanders’ demeanor changed.
From Salon ● Apr. 24, 2026
The policing techniques satirized in the film may be futuristic, but its structure is fusty.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 22, 2026
Before starting Lucy, Coogan co-founded Soylent, the liquid meal replacement of choice for techies a decade ago that was widely satirized in pop culture.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 31, 2025
Blur even satirized grunge music with its megahit “Song 2,” a song of nonsense lyrics and unearned vim.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2025
Swift had written this squib by 1697, and by the time it appeared the conflict it satirized appeared to be over.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
I didn’t want to live in a world of satirizing this guy forever.
From Slate ● Jul. 12, 2026
Jared Keeso stars in this “Letterkenny” spinoff satirizing performative masculinity among a small-town Canadian hockey team.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 27, 2026
In the days since he announced it—anonymously—Kauffman has been accused of having a “peasant feudal lord mindset” and satirizing the city’s posture toward the tech industry and its leaders.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 8, 2026
Our show has done a very good job of satirizing stuff that should be satirized without alienating, you know, half of the country.
From Salon ● Oct. 21, 2024
Eventually Threpe was called up onto the stage where he sang a scathing little ditty of his own design, satirizing one of Tarbean’s councilmen.
From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss
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.
