ridicule
noun
speech or action intended to cause contemptuous laughter at a person or thing; derision.
were ridiculing
-
past progressiveof ridicule.past progressive
Used to describe an ongoing action or continuous state that was happening at a specific time in the past.
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.
She said she was taken aback at how people were ridiculing her on a pro-mask group on Facebook.
From New York Times ● Dec. 26, 2021
Another overheard some local teenage girls, who had been invited to the Wing for an event, speaking in Spanish, and complained that they were ridiculing her.
From New York Times ● Mar. 17, 2020
“Some people were ridiculing California, and some were calling it a failed state,” Mr. Brown, a Democrat, said in an interview.
From New York Times ● Aug. 17, 2013
If I was working in a place and people were ridiculing me and they were -- that was the boss --I don’t think I’d want to work there.”
From BusinessWeek ● Dec. 31, 2011
The Hare, almost dead, as a consolation in his agony, exclaimed: “You, who so lately, free from care, were ridiculing my misfortunes, have now to deplore your own fate with as woful cause.”
From The Fables of Phædrus Literally translated into English prose with notes by Henry T. (Henry Thomas) Riley
