ridicule
EnglishEdit
PronunciationEdit
Etymology 1Edit
Borrowed from French ridicule, from Latin ridiculus (“laughable, comical, amusing, absurd, ridiculous”), from ridere (“to laugh”).
VerbEdit
ridicule (third-person singular simple present ridicules, present participle ridiculing, simple past and past participle ridiculed)
- (transitive) to criticize or disapprove of someone or something through scornful jocularity; to make fun of
- His older sibling constantly ridiculed him with sarcastic remarks.
SynonymsEdit
TranslationsEdit
to make fun of someone
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NounEdit
ridicule (countable and uncountable, plural ridicules)
- derision; mocking or humiliating words or behaviour
- 1738, Alexander Pope, Epilogue to the Satires: Dialogue II
- 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
- An object of sport or laughter; a laughing stock.
- 1857, Henry Thomas Buckle, History of Civilization in England
- [Marlborough] was so miserably ignorant, that his deficiencies made him the ridicule of his contemporaries.
- 1563, John Foxe, Actes and Monuments
- To the people […] but a trifle, to the king but a ridicule.
- 1857, Henry Thomas Buckle, History of Civilization in England
- The quality of being ridiculous; ridiculousness.
- 1710 April 1, Joseph Addison; Richard Steele, “TUESDAY, March 21, 1709–1710 [Julian calendar]”, 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 191120697:
- to see the ridicule of this monstrous practice
SynonymsEdit
- See also Thesaurus:ridicule
Related termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
derision
object of laughter — see laughing stock
quality of being ridiculous — see ridiculousness
See alsoEdit
AdjectiveEdit
ridicule (comparative more ridicule, superlative most ridicule)
- (obsolete) ridiculous
- late 17th century, John Aubrey, Brief Lives
- This action […] became so ridicule.
- late 17th century, John Aubrey, Brief Lives
Etymology 2Edit
From French ridicule, probably jocular alteration of réticule.
NounEdit
ridicule (plural ridicules)
- (now historical) A small woman's handbag; a reticule. [from 18th c.]
- c. 1825, Frances Burney, Journals and Letters, Penguin 2001, p. 455:
- I hastily drew my empty hand from my Ridicule.
- 1838, Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist:
- ‘Pockets, women's ridicules, houses, mailcoaches […] ,’ said Mr. Claypole.
- c. 1825, Frances Burney, Journals and Letters, Penguin 2001, p. 455:
Further readingEdit
- ridicule in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- ridicule in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
FrenchEdit
EtymologyEdit
Borrowed from Latin ridiculus.
PronunciationEdit
AdjectiveEdit
ridicule (plural ridicules)
- ridiculous (all meanings)
Derived termsEdit
Further readingEdit
- “ridicule” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
LatinEdit
EtymologyEdit
From rīdiculus (“laughable; ridiculous”), from rīdeō (“to laugh; mock”).
AdverbEdit
rīdiculē (comparative rīdiculius, superlative rīdiculissimē)
SynonymsEdit
ReferencesEdit
- ridicule in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ridicule in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- ridicule in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette