ridicule
EnglishEdit
PronunciationEdit
Etymology 1Edit
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]
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 March 30, John Foxe, Actes and Monuments of These Latter and Perillous Dayes, […], London: […] Iohn Day, […], →OCLC:
- 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 (Gregorian calendar), Joseph Addison; Richard Steele [et al.], “TUESDAY, 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:
- to see the ridicule of this monstrous practice
- 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:
- 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.
SynonymsEdit
- See also Thesaurus:ridicule
Related termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
derision
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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.]
- 1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], chapter XVI, in Emma: […], volume III, London: […] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] for John Murray, →OCLC, pages 295–296:
- […] while paying her own compliments to Mrs. Bates, and appearing to attend to the good old lady’s replies, she saw her with a sort of anxious parade of mystery fold up a letter which she had apparently been reading aloud to Miss Fairfax, and return it into the purple and gold ridicule by her side, […]
- c. 1825, Frances Burney, Journals and Letters, Penguin 2001, p. 455:
- I hastily drew my empty hand from my Ridicule.
- 1838, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], “An Old Acquaintance of Oliver’s, Exhibiting Decided Marks of Genius, Becomes a Public Character in the Metropolis”, in Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy’s Progress. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 103:
- “Tills be blowed!” said Mr. Claypole; “there’s more things besides tills to be emptied.” “What do you mean?” asked his companion. “Pockets, women’s ridicules, houses, mailcoaches, banks,” said Mr. Claypole, rising with the porter.
ReferencesEdit
- ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “ridicule”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
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 rīdiculus.
PronunciationEdit
AdjectiveEdit
ridicule (plural ridicules)
- ridiculous (all meanings)
Derived termsEdit
Further readingEdit
- “ridicule”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
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