Choose the Right Synonym for 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

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").

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 on the Web After the Washington Post published a piece about the lawsuit, many on social media were quick to believe the claims and deride the chain as a bad actor. — Soleil Ho, San Francisco Chronicle, "If Subway's tuna isn't tuna, what is it? Bay Area lawsuit won't say," 28 Jan. 2021 Some developers deride this as an unfair and unwarranted tax. — Mark Gurman, Bloomberg.com, "Google to Increase Push for Apps to Give Cut of In-App Purchases," 25 Sep. 2020 Trump’s speeches, yet most of them could reject it, or even share it in order to deride or ridicule it. — Siva Vaidhyanathan, The New Republic, "Making Sense of the Facebook Menace," 5 Jan. 2021 Critics deride the ruthless efficiency of the business but Boerboom, 59, sees progress. — USA Today, "How the South and Southwest became the global epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic," 10 Dec. 2020 Neera Tanden, Biden's pick for budget chief, defends her credentials as conservatives deride her for being too liberal and liberals dismiss her as too conservative. — Alex Connor, USA TODAY, "Dear Santa, COVID-19 vaccine and stimulus please," 1 Dec. 2020 But some 17th- and 18th-century critics did deride the chinoiserie, not only for being a chaotic and hedonistic style, but also for potentially making a mockery of Chinese art and design. — Stefanie Waldek, House Beautiful, "What Is Chinoiserie? Everything to Know About the Design Style," 17 Nov. 2020 Posting emails questioning their choice to deride the people writing them is the last thing. — Washington Post, "Ask Amy: Thanksgivings past are this year’s repast," 9 Nov. 2020 Posting emails questioning their choice in order to deride the people writing them is the last thing. — Amy Dickinson, Detroit Free Press, "Thanksgivings past are this year’s repast," 9 Nov. 2020

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.