deride

Learned borrowing from Latin dērīdēre, the present active infinitive of dērīdeō (“to laugh at, make fun of, mock, deride”), from dē- (prefix denoting putting down or subjecting to indignity) + rīdeō (“to laugh; to laugh at, mock, ridicule”) (further etymology uncertain, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *wert- (“to rotate; to turn”) (referring to turning the mouth to smile) or *wreyd- (“to carve; to scratch”)).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /dɪˈɹaɪd/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /dəˈɹaɪd/, /di-/
• Rhymes: -aɪd
• Hyphenation: de‧ride

deride (third-person singular simple present derides, present participle deriding, simple past and past participle derided)

1. (transitive) To laugh at or mock (someone or something) harshly; to ridicule, to scorn.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:ridicule

   • 1610, Saint Augustine, “The Confessions of Such as Doe Worship Those Pagan Gods, from Their Owne Mouthes”, in J H, transl., St. Augustine, of the Citie of God: , : George Eld, →OCLC, book IV, page 191:

     Cicero beeing Augur, derideth the Auguries, and blames men for letting their actions relie vpon the voyce of a Crovve or a Davve.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Luke 23:35, signature J2, recto, column 1:

     And the people ſtood beholding ⁊ the rulers alſo with them derided him , ſaying, hee ſaued others, let him ſaue himſelfe, if he be Chriſt, yͤ choſen of God.

   • 1621, Democritus Junior , “Shame and Disgrace, Causes”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy, , Oxford, Oxfordshire: John Lichfield and Iames Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 1, section 2, member 3, subsection 6, page 135:

     I knovv there be many baſe, impudent, and braſen-faced roagues, let them be proued, perjured, ſtigmatized, convict roagues, theeues, traitors, looſe their ears, be vvhipped, branded, carted, pointed at, hiſſed, reviled, and derided, vvith Ballio the baud in Plautus, they reioice at it,

   • 1625, Purchas, “Conquest of Mexico and New Spaine by Hernando Cortes ”, in Purchas His Pilgrimes. , 3rd part, London: William Stansby for Henrie Fetherstone, , →OCLC, 5th book, page 1119:

     And thou Gallant, that readeſt and derideſt this madneſſe of Faſhion, if thine eyes vvere not dazeled vvith lightneſſe (light I cannot call it) of ſelfe-reflected Vanitie, mighteſt ſee as Monſter-like faſhions at home, and a more faſhionly Monſter of thy ſelfe;

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. , London: ">…] , and are to be sold by Peter Parker ; nd by Robert Boulter ; nd Matthias Walker, , →OCLC, signature , recto, lines 808–809 and 812–817:

     ee of thir vvicked vvayes / Shall them admoniſh, and ſhall returne / Of them derided, but of God obſervd / The one juſt Man alive; by his command / Shall build a vvondrous Ark, as thou beheldſt, / To ſave himſelf and houſhold from amidſt / A VVorld devote to univerſal rack.

   • 1672, Richard Baxter, “The First Part, Christian Ethicks: Or, Directions for the Ordering of the Private Actions of Our Hearts and Lives in the Work of Holy Self-government unto and under God. Chapter IX. Directions for the Government of the Tongue. Tit 6. Directions against Prophane Deriding, Scorning, or Opposing Godliness.”, in A Christian Directory: Or, A Summ of Practical Theologie, and Cases of Conscience. , London: Robert White, for Nevill Simmons, , →OCLC, §. 10, page 439:

     Thou derideſt ſervants for obeying diligently their higheſt maſter? and for doing diligently the greateſt, beſt and needfulleſt vvork in all the vvorld? And is this a good example for thy ovvn ſervants?

   • 1680, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: , 5th edition, Edinburgh: Iohn Cairns, , →OCLC, page 2:

     They alſo thought to drive avvay his diſtemper by harſh and ſurly carriages to him: Sometimes they vvould deride, ſometimes they vvould chide, and ſometimes they vvould quite neglect him:

   • 1781, Edward Gibbon, “Final Destruction of Paganism—Introduction of the Worship of Saints, and Relics, among the Christians”, in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume III, London: W Strahan; and T Cadell, , →OCLC, page 87:

     e ſcorns the vain apologies of his prieſts, and juſtly derides the object, and the folly, of his ſuperſtitious attachment.

   • 1838, Augustine , “The Sixth Book”, in E B Pusey, transl., The Confessions of S. Augustine.  (Library of Fathers of the Holy Catholic Church, anterior to the Division of the East and West; I), Oxford, Oxfordshire: John Henry Parker; London: J G and F Rivington, →OCLC, paragraph 9, page 92:

     I panted after honours, gains, marriage; and Thou deridest me. In these desires I underwent most bitter crosses, Thou being the more gracious, the less Thou sufferedst aught to grow sweet to me, which was not Thou.

   • , G K Chesterton, William Blake, London: Duckworth & Co.; New York, N.Y.: E P Dutton & Co., →OCLC, page 185:

     And while the Tory caricatures were deriding Gladstone because he introduced very new-fangled legislation, they were also deriding him because he wore very antiquated collars.

   • 2021 July 7, Phil McNulty, “UEFA Euro 2024: Italy Beat Spain on Penalties: ‘Pure Theatre as Italy Present Formidable Obstacle in Final’”, in BBC Sport‎, archived from the original on 27 September 2024:

     Italy's eventual win was worthy of an audience filling Wembley twice over, the joy of Mancini and his players a brutal contrast to the despair of much-derided Spain striker Alvaro Morata, who had actually rescued them with an equaliser in normal time after Federico Chiesa's superb opener for Italy.

     An adjective use.

2. (intransitive, obsolete) To laugh in a harshly mocking manner.
   • 1663 (date written), Anthony Wood, “166⅔ and 1663: 15 Car II: <Wood aet 31>”, in Andrew Clark, editor, The Life and Times of Anthony Wood, Antiquary, of Oxford, 1632–1695, Described by Himself  (Oxford Historical Society series; XIX), volume I (1632–1663), Oxford, Oxfordshire: ">…] for the Oxford Historical Society at the Clarendon Press, published 1891, →OCLC, page 466:

     Memorandum that about the year 1650 coffee and chocolate began to be frequently drunk in Oxon: and about 1655 a club was erected at Tilliard's where many pretended witts would meet and deride at others.

• mockery on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E Smith, editors (1911), “deride”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “deride”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

• Diedre, redied

• IPA^(key): /deˈri.de/
• Rhymes: -ide
• Hyphenation: de‧rì‧de

deride

1. third-person singular present indicative of deridere

• diedre

dērīdē

1. second-person singular present active imperative of dērīdeō

deride

1. locative singular of deri