Ridicule

/ˈɹɪdɪkjuːl/ · verb

Meaning

(transitive) To criticize or disapprove of someone or something through scornful jocularity; to make fun of..

Definitions by Sense

1. (transitive) To criticize or disapprove of someone or something through scornful jocularity; to make fun of.
2. Derision; mocking or humiliating words or behavior.
3. An object of sport or laughter; a laughing stock.
4. The quality of being ridiculous; ridiculousness.
5. (obsolete) ridiculous
6. (now historical and regional) A small woman's handbag; a reticule.

Example Sentences

His older sibling constantly ridiculed him with sarcastic remarks.

Safe from the Bar, the Pulpit, and the Throne, / Yet touch'd and sham'd by Ridicule alone.

When he was young you'd not find him doing well in school, His mind would turn unto the waters. Always the focus of adolescent ridicule, He has no time for farmer's daughters. Alienated from the clique society, A lonely boy finds peace in fishing.

[Marlborough] was so miserably ignorant, that his deficiencies made him the ridicule of his contemporaries.

To the people […] but a trifle, to the king but a ridicule.

to see the ridicule of this monstrous practice

More keenly alive perhaps than any of her sisters to the little ridicules that belonged to Mrs. Palmer's character, she yet saw how small was their importance, and that Mrs. Palmer was not only a better but a happier person than most of those with whom she was acquainted.

late 17th century, John Aubrey, Brief Lives This action […] became so ridicule.

Synonyms for ridicule

Antonyms for ridicule

Related Words

Word Forms

• ridicules
• ridiculing
• ridiculed
• more ridicule
• most ridicule

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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