travesty

English

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] French travestir (“to disguise”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin trāns (“over”) + vestīre (“to clothe”). Doublet of transvest.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɹæv.əs.ti/
• Hyphenation: trav‧es‧ty

Noun

travesty (plural travesties)

1. An absurd or grotesque misrepresentation.
   • De Quincey

     The second edition is not a recast, but absolutely a travesty of the first.

2. A parody or stylistic imitation.
3. (derogatory) A grossly inferior imitation.

   A battlefield trial is a travesty of justice.

4. (colloquial, proscribed) An appalling version of something.
   • 2018 February 10, Phil McNulty, “Tottenham Hotspur 1 - 0 Arsenal”, in BBC‎^[1]:

     Spurs survived the scare - and such was their domination after the break that it would have been a travesty had Arsenal escaped Wembley, hosting a Premier League record attendance of 83,222, with a draw.

Synonyms

• caricature
• feign

Antonyms

• veracity

Related terms

etymologically related

• transvestite
• vest
• vestry
• wear
• revetment
• trans-

Translations

An absurd or grotesque misrepresentation

• Czech: travestie f
• Finnish: irvikuva (fi)
• German: Zerrbild n
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hungarian: megcsúfolás, karikatúra (hu)
• Italian: farsa (it)
• Norwegian: karikatur m, parodi (no) m, komedie (no) m, farse m

A parody or stylistic imitation.

• German: Farce (de) f, lächerliche Karikatur f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hungarian: paródia (hu)

Verb

travesty (third-person singular simple present travesties, present participle travestying, simple past and past participle travestied)

1. (transitive) To make a travesty of; to parody.

Further reading

• “travesty”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “travesty”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “travesty”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “travesty”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.