sardonic

sar·don·ic

adjective \sär-ˈdä-nik\

Definition of SARDONIC

: disdainfully or skeptically humorous : derisively mocking <a sardonic comment>

— sar·don·i·cal·ly \-ni-k(ə-)lē\ adverb

Examples of SARDONIC

1. The movie is a sardonic look at modern life.
2. <a sardonic little jab that made her visitor quiet and subdued for the rest of the night>
3. “The Great War,” used interchangeably with “the First World War” (so named in 1918 by a sardonic English journalist, who knew it would not be the last such conflict) … —Benjamin Schwarz, Atlantic, May 1999
4. They have that brand of sardonic humor special to people up against it: black and wry and shocking … —Doris Lessing, New Yorker, 16 Mar. 1987
5. In a story by Flaubert, this spreading of cloths to save the carpet would be observed with a sardonic eye; in Lawrence it is bleakly practical. —Hugh Kenner, A Sinking Island, 1987

Origin of SARDONIC

French sardonique, from Greek sardonios

First Known Use: 1638

Related to SARDONIC

Synonyms

acerb, acerbic, acid, acidic, acidulous, acrid, barbed, biting, caustic, corrosive, cutting, mordant, pungent, sarcastic, satiric (or satirical), scalding, scathing, sharp, smart-aleck, smart-alecky, smart-mouthed, snarky, tart

Related Words

brisk, cross, sharp-tongued, sour, sourish, spiky (also spikey), tartish; incisive, keen, poignant, trenchant; cynical, dry, ironic (also ironical), wry; facetious, flippant, tongue-in-cheek; acrimonious, bitter, resentful, vitriolic; harsh, rough, severe, stringent; abrupt, blunt, brusque (also brusk), concise, crisp, curt, gruff, pithy, snippety, snippy, succinct, terse; backhanded, insincere

Near Antonyms

amusing, droll, merry, playful, sportive, waggish; gentle, mild; bland; good-humored, good-natured; diplomatic, polite, smooth, suave, urbane; affable, cordial, genial, gracious, hospitable, sociable

See Synonym Discussion at sarcastic

Rhymes with SARDONIC

Aaronic, atonic, benthonic, bionic, boronic, Brittonic, Brythonic, bubonic, Byronic, canonic, carbonic, colonic, cyclonic, daimonic, demonic, draconic, dystonic, euphonic, hadronic, harmonic, hedonic, hydronic, iconic, ionic, Ionic, laconic, Masonic, mnemonic, moronic, neutronic, photonic, phytonic, planktonic, platonic, plutonic, pneumonic, pythonic, sermonic, Slavonic, subsonic, symphonic, synchronic, tectonic, Teutonic, transonic