deride

play

verb de·ride \di-ˈrīd, dē-\

Definition of deride

derided

;

deriding

transitive verb
1 : to laugh at or insult contemptuously got derided by a carnival clown
2 : to subject to usually bitter or contemptuous ridicule or criticism politicians deriding their opponents : to express a lack of respect or approval of were derided as the weaker sex

derider

noun

deridingly

play \-ˈrī-diŋ-lē\ adverb

See deride defined for English-language learners

See deride defined for kids

deride was our Word of the Day on 12/05/2014. Hear the podcast!

Examples of deride in a Sentence

my brothers derided our efforts, but were forced to eat their words when we won first place

Recent Examples of deride from the Web

Christie has defended himself and derided the photos, even as the images drew widespread derision and a rebuke from Christie’s running mate.

— mark berman, Washington Post, "Catch up on news from the July Fourth holiday weekend", 3 July 2017
Ice Cube derided last weekend’s officiating, and this week’s free throw numbers spiked.

— c jackson cowart, charlotteobserver, "Is the BIG3 a professional basketball league or a traveling sideshow?", 2 July 2017
Friends, neighbors and even family members may deride them as annoba—

— TIME.com, "Boko Haram’s Other Victims", 27 June 2017
Dangerously, we have been taught by politicians to deride those whose experts, whose opinions differ from our own, without full knowledge of their credentials, research or indeed the subject matter.

— Cincinnati.com, "Column: The Internet, knowledge, respect and humility", 21 June 2017
She was praised for her commitment and derided for her naïveté, and faced charges of obscenity and sedition (later dropped).

— parul seghal, The Atlantic, "Arundhati Roy’s Fascinating Mess", 17 June 2017
While not a full reversal of Obama’s historic Cuba rapprochement, Trump’s recast U.S. policy hews closer to the hard line espoused by Cuban-American Republicans who derided Obama’s 2014 policy as a capitulation.

— patricia mazzei and nora gámez torres, miamiherald, "Trump recasts Cuba policy, takes harder line than Obama on military, travel", 15 June 2017
Meanwhile, the left-winger Corbyn, once seen as having zero chance of becoming prime minister and having derided in much of the U.K.'s right-wing press, experienced a surge of support over the past few weeks, especially among young voters.

— alex ritman, The Hollywood Reporter, "U.K. Election Ends in Shock Result, Theresa May Loses Majority", 9 June 2017
His volatile tweets have derided his own staff, the public, and even overseas political leaders.

— david kravets, Ars Technica, "The Twitter presidency is getting old, according to a new voter survey", 7 June 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'deride'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

When deride was borrowed into English in the 16th century, it came to us by combining the prefix de- with ridēre, a Latin verb meaning "to laugh." Ridēre is also the ancestor of the English words risible ("laughable") and ridiculous. Of course, English has a number of words meaning "to laugh at unkindly"; in addition to deride, we have ridicule, mock, and taunt. Deride suggests laughter loaded with contemptuousness or bitterness, whereas ridicule implies a deliberate often malicious belittling ("consistently ridiculed everything she said"). Mock implies scorn often ironically expressed by mimicry or sham deference ("mocking the speaker's impassioned tones"). Taunt suggests jeeringly provoking insult or challenge ("hometown fans taunted the visiting team").

Origin and Etymology of deride

Latin deridēre, from de- + ridēre to laugh

NEW!

First Known Use: circa 1526

See Words from the same year

Synonym Discussion of deride

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

DERIDE Defined for English Language Learners

deride

play

verb

Definition of deride for English Language Learners

: to talk or write about (someone or something) in a very critical or insulting way : to say that (someone or something) is ridiculous or has no value