ridicule
nounEtymology The obsolete adjective is borrowed from French ridicule, from Latin rīdiculus (“laughable, comical, amusing, absurd, ridiculous”), from ridere (“to laugh”). The noun is either from French, noun use of adjective, or from Latin rīdiculum, noun use of neuter of rīdiculus. The verb is from the noun or else from French ridiculer, from ridicule.
1
Derision; mocking or humiliating words or behavior.
- Safe from the Bar, the Pulpit, and the Throne, / Yet touch'd and sham'd by Ridicule alone.1738, Alexander Pope, Epilogue to the Satires: Dialogue II:
- 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.1989, “John the Fisherman”, performed by Primus:
2
An object of sport or laughter; a laughing stock.
- [Marlborough] was so miserably ignorant, that his deficiencies made him the ridicule of his contemporaries.1857, Henry Thomas Buckle, History of Civilization in England:
- To the people […] but a trifle, to the king but a ridicule.1563 March 30 (Gregorian calendar), John Foxe, Actes and Monuments of These Latter and Perillous Dayes, […], London: […] Iohn Day, […], →OCLC:
3
The quality of being ridiculous; ridiculousness.
- to see the ridicule of this monstrous practice1710 March 31 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “MONDAY, March 21, 1709–1710”, in The Spectator, number 18; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume I, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC:
- 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.1838 (date written), L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter VI, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 65:
- Synonyms
- ridicule, derision, scoff, mockery, katagelasticism
- Derived terms
- ridicule pole, ridiculize
- Related terms
- deride, derision, ridiculable, ridiculous, ridiculosity, humiliation, disrespect, contempt