ridicule

¹rid·i·cule

noun \ˈri-də-ˌkyül\

: the act of making fun of someone or something in a cruel or harsh way : harsh comments made by people who are laughing at someone or something

Full Definition of RIDICULE

:  the act of ridiculing :  derision, mockery

Examples of RIDICULE

1. She didn't show anyone her artwork for fear of ridicule.
2. <the early efforts by the suffragists to obtain voting rights for women were met with ridicule>

Origin of RIDICULE

French or Latin; French, from Latin ridiculum jest

First Known Use: 1690

Related to RIDICULE

Synonyms

derision, mockery, sport

Related Words

contempt, disdain, scorn; belittlement, deprecation, disparagement; catcall, insult, put-down; laughter, snickering; burlesque, caricature, mimicry, pasquinade, satire

Near Antonyms

applause, approval, commendation, praise

Rhymes with RIDICULE

April fool, Barnaul, blow one's cool, boarding school, charter school, common school, cutty stool, dirty pool, ducking stool, fascicule, gallinule, grammar school, graticule, groupuscule, Hartlepool, Istanbul, kilojoule, lenticule, Liverpool, machine tool, magnet school, majuscule, middle school, minischool, minuscule, molecule, motor pool, normal school, nursery school, overrule, private school, public school, reform school, reticule, summer school, Sunday school, training school, vestibule, wading pool

²ridicule

verb

: to laugh at and make jokes about (someone or something) in a cruel or harsh way : to make fun of (someone or something)

ridiculedridicul·ing

Full Definition of RIDICULE

transitive verb

:  to make fun of

— rid·i·cul·er noun

Examples of RIDICULE

1. The other kids ridiculed him for the way he dressed.
2. They ridiculed all of her suggestions.

First Known Use of RIDICULE

circa 1700

Related to RIDICULE

Synonyms

deride, gibe (or jibe), jeer, laugh (at), mock, scout, shoot down, skewer, cock a snook (at) also cock snooks (at), make fun of, make sport of, poke fun at, rag on

Related Words

scoff (at), scorn, sneer (at); bad-mouth, belittle, decry, disparage, pooh-pooh (also pooh), put down; chaff, jive, josh, kid, quiz, rally, razz, rib, ride, tease, tweak, twit; bait, barrack [chiefly British], bug, catcall, harass, harry, hassle, heckle, needle, pester, rag, target, taunt, torment; ape, burlesque, caricature, imitate, lampoon, mimic, parody, parrot, pillory, satirize, take off (on), travesty

Near Antonyms

applaud, approve, commend, endorse (also indorse), sanction

Synonym Discussion of RIDICULE

ridicule, deride, mock, taunt mean to make an object of laughter of. ridicule implies a deliberate often malicious belittling <consistently ridiculed everything she said>. deride suggests contemptuous and often bitter ridicule <derided their efforts to start their own business>. mock implies scorn often ironically expressed as by mimicry or sham deference <youngsters began to mock the helpless wino>. taunt suggests jeeringly provoking insult or challenge <hometown fans taunted the visiting team>.