RIDICULE • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Ridicule

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/rˈɪdəkjˌul/ Listen

noun

Ridicule n.

1.

An object of sport or laughter; a laughingstock; a laughing matter. "(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."

2.

Remarks concerning a subject or a person designed to excite laughter with a degree of contempt; wit of that species which provokes contemptuous laughter; disparagement by making a person an object of laughter; banter; a term lighter than derision. "We have in great measure restricted the meaning of ridicule, which would properly extend over whole region of the ridiculous, the laughable, and we have narrowed it so that in common usage it mostly corresponds to "derision", which does indeed involve personal and offensive feelings." "Safe from the bar, the pulpit, and the throne, Yet touched and shamed by ridicule alone."

3.

Quality of being ridiculous; ridiculousness. (Obs.) "To see the ridicule of this practice."

Synonyms: Derision; banter; raillery; burlesque; mockery; irony; satire; sarcasm; gibe; jeer; sneer; ribbing. Ridicule, Derision, mockery, ribbing: All four words imply disapprobation; but ridicule and mockery may signify either good-natured opposition without manifest malice, or more maliciously, an attempt to humiliate. Derision is commonly bitter and scornful, and sometimes malignant. ribbing is almost always good-natured and fun-loving.

verb

Ridicule v. t. (past & past part. ridiculed;pres. part. ridiculing) To laugh at mockingly or disparagingly; to awaken ridicule toward or respecting. "I 've known the young, who ridiculed his rage."

Synonyms: To deride; banter; rally; burlesque; mock; satirize; lampoon. See Deride.

adjective

Ridicule adj. Ridiculous. (Obs.) "This action... became so ridicule."

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Etymology of 'Ridicule'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Ridicule" Quotes from Famous Books

... the wishes of those who ridicule all morality as a mere chimera of human imagination overstepping itself from vanity, than by conceding to them that notions of duty must be drawn only from experience (as from indolence, people are ready ...

— Literary and Philosophical Essays • Various

... he should proceed. Real uneasiness, however, respecting the fate of his master, for whom he felt that kind of attachment which the force of habitual intercourse not unfrequently engenders respecting objects not in themselves amiable, and also a latent unwillingness to expose his weakness to the ridicule of his fellow-servants, combined to overcome his reluctance; and he had just placed his foot upon the first step of the staircase which conducted to his master's chamber, when his attention was arrested ...

— The Purcell Papers - Volume I. (of III.) • Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

... shaping the prodigy into significance. Why should it take place, and upon such an occasion, they could not for their lives imagine. The only persons in the family who seemed altogether indifferent to it were Woodward and his mother, both of whom treated it with ridicule and contempt. ...

— The Evil Eye; Or, The Black Spector - The Works of William Carleton, Volume One • William Carleton

... Novogorod, she firmly persisted in her new religion; but her labors in the propagation of the gospel were not crowned with success; and both her family and nation adhered with obstinacy or indifference to the gods of their fathers. Her son Swatoslaus was apprehensive of the scorn and ridicule of his companions; and her grandson Wolodomir devoted his youthful zeal to multiply and decorate the monuments of ancient worship. The savage deities of the North were still propitiated with human sacrifices: in the choice of the victim, a citizen was preferred to a stranger, ...

— The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Volume 5 • Edward Gibbon

... down to sleep, the elder Tahitian fell on his knees, and with closed eyes repeated a long prayer in his native tongue. He prayed as a Christian should do, with fitting reverence, and without the fear of ridicule or any ostentation of piety. At our meals neither of the men would taste food, without saying beforehand a short grace. Those travellers who think that a Tahitian prays only when the eyes of the ...

— The Voyage of the Beagle • Charles Darwin

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