ridicule

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French ridicule, from Latin ridiculus (“laughable, comical, amusing, absurd, ridiculous”), from ridere (“to laugh”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹɪdɪkjuːl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: rid‧i‧cule

Verb

1. (transitive) to criticize or disapprove of someone or something through scornful jocularity; to make fun of

   His older sibling constantly ridiculed him with sarcastic remarks.

Synonyms

• outlaugh

Translations

to make fun of someone

• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 笑 (yue) (siu³)

  Mandarin: 嘲笑 (zh) (cháoxiào)

• Danish: latterliggøre, gøre nar af
• Dutch: bespotten (nl)
• Esperanto: ridindigi, moki
• Estonian: naeruvääristama, pilkama
• Finnish: tehdä naurunalaiseksi, ivata (fi), pilkata (fi)
• French: ridiculiser (fr), tourner en dérision (fr)
• German: verspotten (de)
• Gothic: 𐌱𐌹𐌷𐌻𐌰𐌷𐌾𐌰𐌽 (bihlahjan)
• Greek: περιγελώ (el) (perigeló), κοροϊδεύω (el) (koroïdévo)

  Ancient: διασύρω (diasúrō)

• Hungarian: gúnyol (hu), kigúnyol (hu), tréfát űz
• Italian: ridicolizzare
• Japanese: 嘲笑う (azawarau), 嘲笑する (chōshōsuru)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Lithuanian: šaipytis
• Malay: memperlekeh
• Maori: tāwai, whakahahani, taunu, whakamanumanu
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: latterliggjøre

• Persian: مسخره کردن (fa) (masxare kardan)
• Polish: wyśmiewać (pl)
• Portuguese: ridicularizar (pt)
• Romanian: a batjocori, a ridiculiza
• Russian: высме́ивать (ru) impf (vysméivatʹ), вы́смеять (ru) pf (výsmejatʹ), насмеха́ться (ru) impf (nasmexátʹsja)
• Spanish: burla (es) f
• Swedish: göra narr av (sv), förlöjliga (sv), håna (sv)
• Vietnamese: nhạo báng (vi), giễu cợt (vi), chế nhạo (vi)

Noun

ridicule (countable and uncountable, plural ridicules)

1. derision; mocking or humiliating words or behaviour
   • (Can we date this quote by Alexander Pope and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     Safe from the bar, the pulpit, and the throne, / Yet touched and shamed by ridicule alone.

2. An object of sport or laughter; a laughing stock.
   • (Can we date this quote by Buckle and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     [Marlborough] was so miserably ignorant, that his deficiencies made him the ridicule of his contemporaries.

   • (Can we date this quote by Foxe and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     To the people […] but a trifle, to the king but a ridicule.

3. The quality of being ridiculous; ridiculousness.
   • (Can we date this quote by Addison and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     to see the ridicule of this practice

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:ridicule

Related terms

• deride
• derision
• ridiculable
• ridiculous
• ridiculosity

Translations

derision

• Armenian: ծաղր (hy) (caġr)
• Czech: výsměch (cs) m
• Danish: latterliggørelse c
• Esperanto: mokado
• Greek:

  Ancient: κατάγελως m (katágelōs)

• Hungarian: gúny (hu), nevetség (hu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: derisione (it) f
• Persian: استهزا (fa) (estehzâ)
• Russian: насме́шка (ru) f (nasméška)

See also

• humiliation

Adjective

ridicule (comparative more ridicule, superlative most ridicule)

1. (obsolete) ridiculous

   This action […] became so ridicule. — Aubrey.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “ridicule”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Further reading

• “ridicule”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “ridicule”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

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French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin ridiculus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁi.di.kyl/

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

ridicule (plural ridicules)

1. ridiculous (all meanings)

Further reading

• “ridicule”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

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Latin

Etymology

From rīdiculus (“laughable; ridiculous”), from rīdeō (“to laugh; mock”).

Adverb

rīdiculē (comparative rīdiculius, superlative rīdiculissimē)

1. laughably, amusingly
2. absurdly, ridiculously

Synonyms

• perrīdiculē

References

• “ridicule”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ridicule”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• ridicule in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.