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par·o·dy | \ ˈper-ə-dē 
, ˈpa-rə- \
, ˈpa-rə- \ plural parodies
Definition of parody
(Entry 1 of 2)
1 : a literary or musical work in which the style of an author or work is closely imitated for comic effect or in ridicule
wrote a hilarious parody of a popular song
2 : a feeble or ridiculous imitation
a cheesy parody of a classic western
parody
verbparodied; parodying
Definition of parody (Entry 2 of 2)
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Other Words from parody
Noun
parodic \ pə-ˈrä-dik , pa- \ adjective
, pa- \ adjectiveparodistic \ ˌper-ə-ˈdi-stik , ˌpa-rə- \ adjective
, ˌpa-rə- \ adjective
Examples of parody in a Sentence
Noun
He has a talent for writing parodies.
a writer with a talent for parody Verb
It was easy to parody the book's fancy language.
She parodied her brother's poetry.
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Recent Examples on the Web: Noun Spontaneously, the staff decided to record a video of parody songs about living in quarantine.
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Madison Smalstig, Indianapolis Star, "Pajama Day, weird hats and pop-song parodies: How one Indy nursing home cheered residents," 2 May 2020 The pair have been turned into memes, were given a parody theme song and now will have their very own bobblehead figurines available for purchase.
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Briana Rice, Cincinnati.com, "Ohio Health Director Dr. Amy Acton now has her own bobblehead. Here's how to get one," 28 Apr. 2020 That entry included a couple of cute sketches nodding to building paranoia over the pandemic, but there was also a daytime-TV cooking parody and a guest appearance from Debbie Downer.
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David Sims, The Atlantic, "The First Quarantine Episode of Saturday Night Live Was Historic," 12 Apr. 2020 Empire’ parody and comparing Mort Drucker to Leonardo da Vinci.
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BostonGlobe.com, "Mort Drucker, Master of the Mad Caricature, Is Dead at 91," 10 Apr. 2020 More technology news from the public sector: #TRENDING — Tech news generating buzz around the Web:
WIRED IN
Coronavirus parody songs about washing your hands and social distancing are everywhere, my colleague Travis M. Andrews reports.
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Washington Post, "The Technology 202: Airbnb is reeling from the coronavirus fallout," 7 Apr. 2020 The scenario is almost a parody of a mainstream Democratic fantasy.
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James Poniewozik, New York Times, "‘The Good Fight’ Premiere: She Had a Dream," 9 Apr. 2020 The video by Nathaniel Yu was a parody, and the supposed terrorists were played by two of Yu’s Muslim friends, his lawyers said in announcing the settlement with the San Ramon Valley Unified School District.
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Bob Egelko, SFChronicle.com, "$665,000 settlement for East Bay student punished for mock terrorist video," 7 Apr. 2020 His ineptitude was a parody of mine, his gleeful desire to smash things apart the flip side of my desperate need to hold them together.
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James Marcus, The New Yorker, "A Dark Ride," 29 Oct. 2019 Recent Examples on the Web: Verb In this weekend’s finale, the cast of Saturday Night Live parodied the trend.
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Michelle Cheng, Quartz, "Alec Baldwin as Trump delivers virtual commencement speech on SNL," 10 May 2020 Siegfried Fischbacher and Roy Horn, the famous Vegas performers who work with big game cats, were parodied by the show in 1993.
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Lisa Respers France, CNN, "'The Simpsons' predicted a pandemic and killer insects back in 1993," 8 May 2020 Others have done it while parodying the very stock phrases that no longer feel responsive enough.
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Katy Steinmetz, Time, "'Stay Safe!' The Art of Emailing During the Coronavirus Pandemic," 24 Apr. 2020 Though Lipton could come off as self-important or sycophantic, and was parodied more than once, there’s a reason the show was a hit.
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Stephanie Goodman, New York Times, "Five of the Best Interviews From ‘Inside the Actors Studio’," 2 Mar. 2020 Though it's been recently parodied to some criticism from one of its stars, there's no doubt that Love, Actually has worked its way into the hearts of Christmas movie-lovers since 2003.
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Jordan Wilson, The Hollywood Reporter, "Hollywood Reporter Reader Poll: What Is Your Favorite Christmas Movie?," 24 Dec. 2019 From Riverdale to Keeping Up with the Kardashians, Skinner has parodied some of pop culture’s biggest fixtures in his videos, and now the comedian is taking on Thelma and Louise and Romy and Michele.
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Nick Maslow, PEOPLE.com, "Instagram Star Benito Skinner, Known for Kris Jenner Impression, Debuts 'Brand New' Music Video," 12 Aug. 2019 Now, family-friendly tunes are being parodied - for better or worse - in the coronavirus fight.
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Mark Heim | Mheim@al.com, al, "COVID-19 parodies: You won’t get ‘Baby Shark,’ ‘Do you want to build a snowman’ out of your head," 28 Mar. 2020 Kahlo, who died in 1954, is not present in these photos, which were taken in 2006 — neither Kahlo the artist, beatified in textbooks, nor Kahlo the caricature, parodied on coffee mugs.
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Kelsey Ables, Washington Post, "Photographer Graciela Iturbide’s ground-level view of modern Mexico," 12 Mar. 2020
See MoreThese example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'parody.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for parody
parody
nounEnglish Language Learners Definition of parody
(Entry 1 of 2)
: a piece of writing, music, etc., that imitates the style of someone or something else in an amusing way
disapproving : a bad or unfair example of something
parody
verbEnglish Language Learners Definition of parody (Entry 2 of 2)
: to imitate (someone or something) in an amusing way
See the full definition for parody in the English Language Learners Dictionary
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Time Traveler for parody
The first known use of parody was in 1607
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