ridicule

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French ridicule, from Latin ridiculus (“laughable, comical, amusing, absurd, ridiculous”), from ridere (“to laugh”).

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Verb

ridicule (third-person singular simple present ridicules, present participle ridiculing, simple past and past participle ridiculed)

1. (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.

Synonyms

• outlaugh

Translations

to make fun of someone

• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 笑 (yue) (siu³)

  Mandarin: 嘲笑 (zh) (cháoxiào)

• Danish: latterliggøre, gøre nar af
• Dutch: bespotten (nl)
• Estonian: naeruvääristama, pilkama
• Finnish: tehdä naurunalaiseksi, ivata (fi), pilkata (fi)
• French: ridiculiser (fr), tourner en dérision (fr)
• German: verspotten (de)
• Gothic: 𐌱𐌹𐌷𐌻𐌰𐌷𐌾𐌰𐌽 (bihlahjan)
• Greek: περιγελώ (el) (perigeló), κοροϊδεύω (el) (koroïdévo)

  Ancient: διασύρω (diasúrō)

• Hungarian: gúnyol (hu), kigúnyol (hu), tréfát űz
• Italian: ridicolizzare
• Japanese: 嘲笑う (azawarau), 嘲笑する (chōshōsuru)

• Lithuanian: šaipytis
• Malay: memperlekeh
• Maori: tāwai, whakahahani, taunu, whakamanumanu
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: latterliggjøre

• Persian: مسخره کردن‎ (fa) (masxare kardan)
• Polish: wyśmiewać (pl)
• Portuguese: ridicularizar (pt)
• Romanian: a batjocori, a ridiculiza
• Russian: высме́ивать (ru) impf (vysméivatʹ), вы́смеять (ru) pf (výsmejatʹ), насмеха́ться (ru) impf (nasmexátʹsja)
• Spanish: burla (es) f
• Swedish: göra narr av (sv), förlöjliga (sv), håna (sv)
• Vietnamese: nhạo báng (vi), giễu cợt (vi), chế nhạo (vi)

Noun

ridicule (countable and uncountable, plural ridicules)

1. derision; mocking or humiliating words or behaviour
   • Alexander Pope

     Safe from the bar, the pulpit, and the throne, / Yet touched and shamed by ridicule alone.

2. An object of sport or laughter; a laughing stock.
   • Buckle

     [Marlborough] was so miserably ignorant, that his deficiencies made him the ridicule of his contemporaries.

   • Foxe

     To the people […] but a trifle, to the king but a ridicule.

3. The quality of being ridiculous; ridiculousness.
   • Addison

     to see the ridicule of this practice

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:ridicule

Related terms

• deride
• derision
• ridiculable
• ridiculous
• ridiculosity

Translations

derision

• Armenian: ծաղր (hy) (całr)
• Czech: výsměch (cs) m
• Danish: latterliggørelse c
• Greek:

  Ancient: κατάγελως m (katágelōs)

• Hungarian: gúny (hu), nevetség (hu)

• Italian: derisione (it) f
• Persian: استهزا‎ (fa) (estehzâ)
• Russian: насме́шка (ru) f (nasméška)

See also

• humiliation

Adjective

ridicule (comparative more ridicule, superlative most ridicule)

1. (obsolete) ridiculous

   This action […] became so ridicule. — Aubrey.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for ridicule in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)

Further reading

• ridicule in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• ridicule in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

---

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin ridiculus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁi.di.kyl/

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

ridicule (plural ridicules)

1. ridiculous (all meanings)

Further reading

• “ridicule” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

---

Latin

Etymology

From rīdiculus (“laughable; ridiculous”), from rīdeō (“to laugh; mock”).

Adverb

rīdiculē (comparative rīdiculius, superlative rīdiculissimē)

1. laughably, amusingly
2. absurdly, ridiculously

Synonyms

• perrīdiculē

References

• 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