Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Ridicule?

\Rid"i*cule\, n. [F. ridicule, L. ridiculum a jest, fr. ridiculus. See {Ridiculous}.] 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. --Buckle. To the people . . . but a trifle, to the king but a ridicule. --Foxe. 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. --Hare. Safe from the bar, the pulpit, and the throne, Yet touched and shamed by ridicule alone. --Pope. 3. Quality of being ridiculous; ridiculousness. [Obs.] To see the ridicule of this practice. --Addison. Syn: Derision; banter; raillery; burlesque; mockery; irony; satire; sarcasm; gibe; jeer; sneer. Usage: {Ridicule}, {Derision}, Both words imply disapprobation; but ridicule usually signifies good-natured, fun-loving opposition without manifest malice, while derision is commonly bitter and scornful, and sometimes malignant.
\Rid"i*cule\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Ridiculed};p. pr. & vb. n. {Ridiculing}.] To laugh at mockingly or disparagingly; to awaken ridicule toward or respecting. I 've known the young, who ridiculed his rage. --Goldsmith. Syn: To deride; banter; rally; burlesque; mock; satirize; lampoon. See {Deride}.
\Rid"i*cule\, a. [F.] Ridiculous. [Obs.] This action . . . became so ridicule. --Aubrey.