Meaning

Expressing or characterized by derision; mocking; ridiculing..

Definitions by Sense

1. Expressing or characterized by derision; mocking; ridiculing.
2. Deserving or provoking derision or ridicule.
3. (rare) A derisive remark.

Example Sentences

The critic's review of the film was derisive.

Johnson shook his head, a derisive grin ticking the corners of his mouth.

It’s a humiliating moment, to be sure. Tripp is riding to school with a bunch of other kids when a classmate pulls up alongside the bus driving a sweet, tricked-out truck, attractive young lady at his side, and shoots Tripp a derisive look.

The plot of the film was so derisive that the audience began to jeer.

The three lambs stood at bay, huddled close together, and helplessly bleated feeble derisives at the wolf who has headed them off from safety; but their polite and Englishy tone was a source of Homeric laughter to this Thersites of the Pleasance.

He leaped over the embankment at the river's edge in such a manner that it appeared he had been fatally hit and was down for good; the Yankees shouting such derisives as "Another damn Rebel for hell," "Goodbye, you Rebel bastard," etc., didn't go right away to rob the corpse.

Indeed, the power inherent in the labels attributed to them has repeatedly transformed these terms from allegedly scientific ones into colloquial derisives.

Word Forms

• more derisive
• most derisive
• derisives

Synonyms for derisive

Antonyms for derisive

Related Words

When Should You Use Derisive?

Use derisive when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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