satirize
Americanverb (used with object)
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satirizes,
present (3rd person singular)
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satirized,
past participle, past
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satirizing
present participle
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:
“Idiocracy,” on the other hand, was as cheap as the mid-aughts culture it was setting out to satirize.
From Salon ● Sep. 6, 2026
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
The program uses a quiz show-style format as a forum for comics, pundits and media personalities to satirize the issues of the day.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 15, 2024
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
HBO’s “I Love LA” satirizes the Los Angeles entertainment industry, with influencers, nepo-babies and the rich and famous.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026
Would you say this movie not only satirizes white Americans, but also Black Americans?
From New York Times ● Mar. 13, 2024
A recent show most analogous to “Expats” is “The White Lotus,” Mike White’s HBO dramedy which satirizes the lives of privileged white tourists.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 25, 2024
In the spirit of "The Boys," "Gen V" satirizes our willingness to amenability to be commodified in service of fame and validation.
From Salon ● Sep. 29, 2023
Jourdain is the name under which Molière satirizes such a character.
From Classic French Course in English by William Cleaver Wilkinson
He was satirized on the BBC political sitcom “The Thick of It” as Stewart Pearson, the Tories’ “eco-friendly, media-savvy, blue-sky-thinking” communications director.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026
The policing techniques satirized in the film may be futuristic, but its structure is fusty.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 22, 2026
Scott Adams, the ‘Dilbert’ cartoonist who satirized a certain kind of workplace culture for more than 30 years before comments on race led to publishers cutting ties with him, has died at 68.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 14, 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
A similar confusion is satirized by Moliere when he has his pompous doctor announce that his sleeping potion works because of its dormitive virtue.
From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos
I didn’t want to live in a world of satirizing this guy forever.
From Slate ● Jul. 12, 2026
David Lindsay-Abaire’s “The Balusters” is a piquant comedy satirizing the hollowness and hypocrisy of well-to-do do-gooders on a neighborhood homeowners association board.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026
Jared Keeso stars in this “Letterkenny” spinoff satirizing performative masculinity among a small-town Canadian hockey team.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 27, 2026
Nine years ago, the documentarian John Wilson came to Sundance to shoot a six-minute short called “Escape From Park City,” satirizing a film festival he didn’t think would ever let him in.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 21, 2026
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.
