sardonic
adjective
sar·don·ic
sär-ˈdä-nik 
: disdainfully or skeptically humorous : derisively mocking
a sardonic comment
Examples of sardonic in a Sentence
"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
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
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
The movie is a sardonic look at modern life.
a sardonic little jab that made her visitor quiet and subdued for the rest of the night
Benjamin Schwarz, Atlantic, May 1999
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
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
The movie is a sardonic look at modern life.
a sardonic little jab that made her visitor quiet and subdued for the rest of the night
Recent Examples on the Web
Ortega delivers a pitch-perfect take on the sardonic teen, who's shipped off to Nevermore Academy after her umpteenth expulsion.
—Wesley Stenzel, EW.com, 26 June 2025
The television version faces the formidable challenge of how to represent Murderbot’s darkly comic interior monologue in a third-person format, and its success is in large part a function of Skarsgård’s face, which can pull off a range of sardonic micro-expressions.
—Gideon Lewis-Kraus, New Yorker, 13 June 2025
And yet it’s still filled with sardonic commentary all the same, including this doozy: Despite their size, muscle bros at the gym are really just a bunch of babies.
—Nina Metz Chicago Tribune, Twin Cities, 8 May 2025
Advertisement Advertisement Anderson has been accused of many things: putting style before substance, being too sardonic as to lack emotionality, leaning too hard into nostalgia, becoming too fastidious for his own good.
—Shannon Carlin, Time, 30 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for sardonic
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Wesley Stenzel, EW.com, 26 June 2025
The television version faces the formidable challenge of how to represent Murderbot’s darkly comic interior monologue in a third-person format, and its success is in large part a function of Skarsgård’s face, which can pull off a range of sardonic micro-expressions.
—Gideon Lewis-Kraus, New Yorker, 13 June 2025
And yet it’s still filled with sardonic commentary all the same, including this doozy: Despite their size, muscle bros at the gym are really just a bunch of babies.
—Nina Metz Chicago Tribune, Twin Cities, 8 May 2025
Advertisement Advertisement Anderson has been accused of many things: putting style before substance, being too sardonic as to lack emotionality, leaning too hard into nostalgia, becoming too fastidious for his own good.
—Shannon Carlin, Time, 30 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for sardonic
Cite this Entry
“Sardonic.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sardonic. Accessed 9 Jul. 2025.
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