travesty
a grotesque or debased likeness or imitation: a travesty of justice.
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.
to make a travesty on; turn (a serious work or subject) to ridicule by burlesquing.
to imitate grotesquely or absurdly.
Origin of travesty
1synonym study For travesty
Other words for travesty
Other words from travesty
- un·trav·es·tied, adjective
Words Nearby travesty
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use travesty in a sentence
It’s a travesty that 710 Indigenous girls and women have disappeared between 2011 and 2020 and also suffered the fate of anonymity.
Gabby’s Case Reminds Me of the Scariest Hike I Ever Took | Alaina Demopoulos | September 23, 2021 | The Daily BeastBy choosing to fight on two fronts—one of them an ill-conceived travesty—we set ourselves up for failure on both.
20 Years After 9/11, the West Can Still Salvage Its Standing in the World | Ali Soufan | September 11, 2021 | TimeI love my students and respect my colleagues, and have been part of the community’s efforts, still incomplete, to make reparations for that travesty.
Nikole Hannah-Jones just proved the correctness of critical race theory | Paul Butler | July 8, 2021 | Washington PostThat this dynamic landscape could at once be so powerful and so fragile left me wondering what other natural travesties might occur if we fail to slow our planet’s warming.
Kayaking with Giants in Kenai Fjords National Park | Emily Pennington | May 13, 2021 | Outside OnlineAt the series’ end, Peck asks if it’s knowledge that we lack — if ignorance is what accounts for the travesties of history.
It’s astounding that HBO’s new docuseries Exterminate All the Brutes even exists | Alissa Wilkinson | April 9, 2021 | Vox
To connoisseurs of smoked fish such confusion would be a travesty.
Such travesty haunts the collective imagination, reflecting myth, history and politics.
Crime Fighter’s Dilemma: My Country or My Family? | Moral Courage | April 21, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThen there was that 80-14 travesty against Idaho, a team that won just one out of eleven games all season.
The Heisman ‘Bad Boys’: Jameis Winston, Johnny Manziel, and Who Should Really Win | Allen Barra | December 14, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTOne of the defense attorneys for Zimmerman said he was glad the outcome did not turn a tragedy into travesty.
Not This Again: The Ghost of Past Injustices, From the Draft Riots to Trayvon | Herb Boyd | July 15, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTAs happy as I am for George Zimmerman, I'm thrilled that this jury kept this tragedy from becoming a travesty.
George Zimmerman Found Not Guilty; Looks Forward to 'Getting His Life Back' | Jacqui Goddard | July 14, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTThe sailor, after the manner so often dwelt upon, is keeping up a pleasing travesty of sea-faring life.
The Portsmouth Road and Its Tributaries | Charles G. HarperMy travesty of Plato was intended to illustrate the difficulty of close reasoning on such topics.
The Inhumanity of Socialism | Edward F. AdamsThough the proceedings had been a travesty of justice, they had been invested hitherto with a scenic stateliness.
Sir Walter Ralegh | William StebbingShe may, indeed, have been a mere travesty, though the hypothesis would be anything but free from difficulty.
The Science of Fairy Tales | Edwin Sidney HartlandThe Franco-Prussian War was in progress, and this travesty was particularly timely.
Mark Twain, A Biography, 1835-1910, Complete | Albert Bigelow Paine
British Dictionary definitions for travesty
/ (ˈtrævɪstɪ) /
a farcical or grotesque imitation; mockery; parody
(tr) to make or be a travesty of
Origin of travesty
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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