ridicule

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹɪdɪkjuːl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: rid‧i‧cule

Etymology 1

The obsolete adjective is borrowed from French ridicule, from Latin rīdiculus (“laughable, comical, amusing, absurd, ridiculous”), from ridere (“to laugh”).

The noun is either from French, noun use of adjective, or from Latin rīdiculum, noun use of neuter of rīdiculus.

The verb is from the noun or else from French ridiculer, from ridicule.

Verb

ridicule (third-person singular simple present ridicules, present participle ridiculing, simple past and past participle ridiculed)

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

Noun

ridicule (countable and uncountable, plural ridicules)

1. derision; mocking or humiliating words or behaviour
   • 1738, Alexander Pope, Epilogue to the Satires: Dialogue II:

     Safe from the Bar, the Pulpit, and the Throne, / Yet touch'd and sham'd by Ridicule alone.

2. An object of sport or laughter; a laughing stock.
   • 1857, Henry Thomas Buckle, History of Civilization in England:

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

   • 1563 March 30 (Gregorian calendar), John Foxe, Actes and Monuments of These Latter and Perillous Dayes, , London: Iohn Day, , →OCLC:

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

3. The quality of being ridiculous; ridiculousness.
   • 1710 April 1 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “TUESDAY, March 21, 1709–1710”, in The Spectator, number 18; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, , volume I, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC:

     to see the ridicule of this monstrous practice

     The spelling has been modernized.

   • 1838 (date written), L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter VI, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. , volume I, London: Henry Colburn, , published 1842, →OCLC, page 65:

     More keenly alive perhaps than any of her sisters to the little ridicules that belonged to Mrs. Palmer's character, she yet saw how small was their importance, and that Mrs. Palmer was not only a better but a happier person than most of those with whom she was acquainted.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:ridicule

Derived terms

• ridicule pole

Related terms

• deride
• derision
• ridiculable
• ridiculous
• ridiculosity

Translations

See also

• humiliation

Adjective

ridicule (comparative more ridicule, superlative most ridicule)

1. (obsolete) ridiculous
   • late 17th century, John Aubrey, Brief Lives

     This action became so ridicule.

Etymology 2

From French ridicule, probably jocular alteration of réticule.

Noun

ridicule (plural ridicules)

1. (now historical) A small woman's handbag; a reticule.
   • 1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], chapter XVI, in Emma: , volume III, London: for John Murray, →OCLC, pages 295–296:

     […] while paying her own compliments to Mrs. Bates, and appearing to attend to the good old lady’s replies, she saw her with a sort of anxious parade of mystery fold up a letter which she had apparently been reading aloud to Miss Fairfax, and return it into the purple and gold ridicule by her side, […]

   • c. 1825, Frances Burney, Journals and Letters, Penguin, published 2001, page 455:

     I hastily drew my empty hand from my Ridicule.

   • 1838, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], “An Old Acquaintance of Oliver’s, Exhibiting Decided Marks of Genius, Becomes a Public Character in the Metropolis”, in Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy’s Progress. , volume III, London: Richard Bentley, , →OCLC, page 103:

     “Tills be blowed!” said Mr. Claypole; “there’s more things besides tills to be emptied.” “What do you mean?” asked his companion. “Pockets, women’s ridicules, houses, mailcoaches, banks,” said Mr. Claypole, rising with the porter.

References

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.

French

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin rīdiculus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁi.di.kyl/

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

ridicule (plural ridicules)

1. ridiculous (all meanings)

Derived terms

• ridiculiser
• ridiculement

Related terms

• rire
• risible

Noun

ridicule m (uncountable)

1. ridicule; absurd

   Near-synonym: absurde

   tourner en ridicule ― to ridicule, to mock

   le ridicule ne tue pas ― looking stupid never killed anyone

Further reading

• “ridicule”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

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.