travesty
Americannoun
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travesties
plural
-
a grotesque or debased likeness or imitation.
a travesty of justice.
- Synonyms:
- distortion, sham, perversion, mockery
-
a literary or artistic burlesque of a serious work or subject, characterized by grotesque or ludicrous incongruity of style, treatment, or subject matter.
-
a literary or artistic composition so inferior in quality as to be merely a grotesque imitation of its model.
verb (used with object)
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travesties,
present (3rd person singular)
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travestied,
past participle, past
-
travestying
present participle
-
to make a travesty on; turn (a serious work or subject) to ridicule by burlesquing.
-
to imitate grotesquely or absurdly.
noun
verb
Usage
What does travesty mean? A travesty is something that imitates something else but in a gross or ridiculous manner. A travesty is also a literary or other artistic work that is a grotesque example of the art form it models. To travesty means to imitate absurdly or to parody a serious artwork. Example: The movie was an absolute travesty of the events that actually took place.
Synonym Usage
See burlesque.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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travestysimple
-
travestiessimple
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have travestiedperfect
-
has travestiedperfect
-
am travestyingprogressive
-
are travestyingprogressive
-
is travestyingprogressive
-
have been travestyingperfect progressive
-
has been travestyingperfect progressive
Past
-
travestiedsimple
-
had travestiedperfect
-
was travestyingprogressive
-
were travestyingprogressive
-
had been travestyingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of travesty
1655–65; < French travesti, past participle of travestir “to disguise” < Italian travestire, equivalent to tra- (< Latin trāns- trans- ) + vestire “to clothe” < Latin vestīre; see vest
Explanation
A travesty is a cheap mockery, usually of something or someone serious, such as a travesty of justice. In literature, a travesty is a work that humorously and crudely imitates another work or style. But you can also use this word to describe anything that seems to mock, distort, or poorly imitate something else. A travesty of justice, for example, is a court case that makes a mockery of the judicial system — or so you might think, if the verdict isn't in your favor. Travesty comes from the French travesti, meaning "dressed in disguise."
Vocabulary lists containing travesty
300 Most Difficult "SAT" Words
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Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
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President Trump's Second State of the Union Address (2019)
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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:
It would be an "absolute travesty" if Ben Stokes does not captain England again but his future remains in doubt, says former skipper Michael Vaughan.
From BBC ● Jun. 17, 2026
The judges who presided over this travesty are still on the bench.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 8, 2026
Let’s put the nicest interpretation on that earlier travesty.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 16, 2025
What are the latest updates on that travesty?
From Slate ● Dec. 12, 2025
They came directly home, sobered by the travesty in which they had participated.
From "In the Time of the Butterflies" by Julia Alvarez
The statement ended: "She must remain in prison – anything less would go down in history as being one of the highest travesties of justice."
From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2025
But if they wanted to ditch him for anything, he had nine months of cataclysmic travesties behind him, any one of which could have brought about his downfall.
From Salon ● Oct. 5, 2023
“There are two travesties that are juxtaposed here,” Oliver said.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 9, 2023
In the replies, members of this mixed civilian and military audience are all in on the joke, gleefully picking apart these design travesties.
From Slate ● Feb. 8, 2023
She’d heard of them but had never witnessed their travesties; the colored evening at the theater in South Carolina offered different fare.
From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead
And yet, he has undoubtedly been travestied by a press who must somehow contrive to terrify Middle England with a man who looks as if he celebrates New Year’s Eve by edging the lawn.
From The Guardian ● Dec. 22, 2018
Readers may be tempted to side at one moment with the defenders of Jewish caution and Jewish sentiment, however their instincts are travestied, and soon afterward with Zuckerman’s principled view of the autonomy of art.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 25, 2018
Thus does Owen Brademas, searching in “The Names” for the resolution of a fallen world in a language of divine order, find that search travestied by a murderous cult seeking similar ends.
From New York Times ● May 2, 2016
Jay's great triumph is neither to elevate Matthews into a travestied hero, nor to confirm him simply as Patient Zero of modern psychiatry.
From The Guardian ● Nov. 9, 2012
It was literally, as he said, "a terrible painting," of which none of the stupidly-heavy copies that have for the most part travestied Holbein's work give any true conception.
From Holbein by Fortescue, Beatrice
Peyrade had the power of travestying everything, even his wit.
From Scenes from a Courtesan's Life by Balzac, Honoré de
Yet I labor day by day travestying it, caricaturing the beautiful thoughts that come into my mind.
From Red Pottage by Cholmondeley, Mary
And the two idiots, gibbering and mouthing strange noises, danced apart, grotesque, fantastic, travestying love as they themselves had been travestied by life.
From The House of Pride, and Other Tales of Hawaii by London, Jack
If these prescriptions are observed, he says, travestying a fine Lucretian line, the diner-out may draw near to and drink deep from the well-spring of a happy life.
From Horace by Tuckwell, William
The kitchen-maid was toasting a slice of bread at the end of a very long toasting-fork, which she held at arm's length towards the unapproachable fire, travestying the Flanconnade in fencing.
From Desperate Remedies by Hardy, Thomas
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.
