1
as in parody
a poor, insincere, or insulting imitation of something
rigged from the start, his trial was a travesty of justice
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in spoof
a work that imitates and exaggerates another work for comic effect
the big-screen version of the classic sitcom is actually a good-natured travesty of the TV series
Synonyms & Similar Words
as in to parody
to copy or exaggerate (someone or something) in order to make fun of
this comedy sketch mindlessly travesties the hard work of relief workers around the world
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of travesty
Sherry Kuehl, Kansas City Star, 13 May 2025
Absolute travesty that this official is working playoffs, let alone into the second round.
—Daniel Nugent-Bowman, New York Times, 10 May 2025
The New Republic, 22 June 2023
Readers may be tempted to side at one moment with the defenders of Jewish caution and Jewish sentiment, however their instincts are travestied, and soon afterward with Zuckerman’s principled view of the autonomy of art.
—Cynthia Ozick, WSJ, 25 May 2018
See All Example Sentences for travesty
Noun
Both were bewildered by this fashion design travesty.
—Sherry Kuehl, Kansas City Star, 13 May 2025
Absolute travesty that this official is working playoffs, let alone into the second round.
—Daniel Nugent-Bowman, New York Times, 10 May 2025
Verb
In 1933, the Marx Brothers mocked dictatorship with Duck Soup; three decades later, Kubrick and writer Terry Southern travestied the Bomb.
—The New Republic, 22 June 2023
Readers may be tempted to side at one moment with the defenders of Jewish caution and Jewish sentiment, however their instincts are travestied, and soon afterward with Zuckerman’s principled view of the autonomy of art.
—Cynthia Ozick, WSJ, 25 May 2018
See All Example Sentences for travesty
Recent Examples of Synonyms for travesty
Noun
-
The unserious image conveys how much the drama has become a parody of itself.—
Shirley Li,
The Atlantic,
27 June 2025
-
When Israel launched its full-scale war against Iran on June 13, the jingoistic Beach Boys parody once again began to make the rounds.—
Hershal Pandya,
Vulture,
25 June 2025
Noun
-
In The Naked Gun, a sequel-reboot to the crime spoofs of the 1980s and ’90s starring Leslie Nielsen, Anderson plays femme fatale Beth.—
Jack Smart,
People.com,
18 June 2025
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Other people and publications dug the Severance spoof — as of this writing, the Ravens’ reveal video had 9,000 likes on X and nearly 3,000 on YouTube (with 70,000 views).—
Tony Maglio,
HollywoodReporter,
16 May 2025
Verb
-
In September 2024, she was mocked online after releasing a single.—
Kate Plummer,
MSNBC Newsweek,
25 June 2025
-
Tonally, the show is all over the place, laying on the moody theatrics one moment, mocking Dave’s writerly pretenses the next.—
Nina Metz,
Chicago Tribune,
25 June 2025
Noun
-
And yet the world is too driven by algorithms, too fragmented in its tastes, to ever be on the same page again and get the same jokes.—
Christopher Borrelli,
Chicago Tribune,
30 June 2025
-
She was raised in a society—a West Indian society—that did not put much of a premium on women’s bodies, where any kind of intimacy was a joke.—
Hilton Als,
New Yorker,
30 June 2025
Verb
-
But as these systems gained the ability to imitate reasoning, planning, and decision-making among options, emergent behaviors began raising red flags.—
Hamilton Mann,
Forbes.com,
29 June 2025
-
Some fireworks transcend the standard pops and booms to imitate a non-fiery object.—
Ethan Wolin,
Sacbee.com,
28 June 2025
Noun
-
At a time when transgender people are under attack on many fronts, both the lack of representation and offensive caricatures of trans people cause real harm.—
Samantha Bergeson,
IndieWire,
11 June 2025
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Entertainment included two balloon artists from Krys Kreations, two strolling caricature artists from Draw the Crowd and Polynesian and Hawaiian music performed by the Stanley Family Trio from Center for World Music.—
Elizabeth Marie Himchak,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
11 June 2025
Verb
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Immigrant advocates are vowing to fight to ensure birthright citizenship remains the law as the Republican president tries to do away with more than a century of precedent.—
Tim Sullivan,
Chicago Tribune,
28 June 2025
-
The way to do it is with judicious use of strong contrast colours, and that’s exactly what Nike has done here, with those pinks, blues and reds underneath the armpits and down the side of the shorts.—
Nick Miller,
New York Times,
28 June 2025
Noun
-
Official results of the election handed Lukashenko his sixth term in office but were denounced by the opposition and the West as a sham.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
22 June 2025
-
Another sign that this search was viewed as a sham was that the most impressive outside candidate was the city manager of Norcross, Ga., an Atlanta suburb of 18,000 residents.—
Sun Sentinel Editorial Board,
Sun Sentinel,
21 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Travesty.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/travesty. Accessed 5 Jul. 2025.
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