sarcastic

English

Alternative forms

• sarcastick (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /sɑːˈkæstɪk/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /sɑɹˈkæstɪk/

  Rhymes: -æstɪk

Adjective

sarcastic (comparative more sarcastic, superlative most sarcastic)

1. Containing sarcasm.

   a sarcastic quip

   the teacher's sarcastic tone

   • 1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, Ivanhoe; a Romance. , volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. , →OCLC:

     The unhappy Jew eyed their countenances and that of Front-de-Bœuf, in hope of discovering some symptoms of relenting; but that of the Baron exhibited the same cold, half-sullen, half-sarcastic smile which had been the prelude to his cruelty; […]

   • 1850, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Machiavelli‎:

     The sarcastic bitterness of his conversation disgusted those who were more inclined to accuse his licentiousness than their own degeneracy, and who were unable to conceive the strength of those emotions which are concealed by the jests of the wretched, and by the follies of the wise.

   • 1851 April 9, Nathaniel Hawthorne, The House of the Seven Gables, a Romance, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields:

     He smiled to himself, and threw a glance of fine sarcastic meaning towards Hepzibah.

   • 1891, Thomas Hardy, chapter II, in Tess of the d’Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented , volume I, London: James R Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., , →OCLC:

     In men’s clubs such celebrations were, though expiring, less uncommon; but either the natural shyness of the softer sex, or a sarcastic attitude on the part of male relatives, had denuded such women’s clubs as remained (if any other did) or this their glory and consummation.

2. (of a person) Having the personality trait of expressing sarcasm.
   • 1912, Willa Cather, The Bohemian Girl:

     Her eyes slanted a little... and were sometimes full of fiery determination and sometimes dull and opaque. Her expression was never altogether amiable; was often, indeed, distinctly sullen, or, when she was animated, sarcastic.

Synonyms

• sarky (British)
• snarky

Derived terms

• sarcast
• sarcastic fringehead
• sarcastically
• sarky

Translations

See also

• ironic
• sardonic
• snide

References

• “sarcastic”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• "sarcastic" in Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary (Cambridge University Press, 2007)
• “sarcastic”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• Random House Webster's Unabridged Electronic Dictionary (1987-1996)

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French sarcastique.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Adjective

sarcastic m or n (feminine singular sarcastică, masculine plural sarcastici, feminine and neuter plural sarcastice)

1. sarcastic

   Synonym: caustic

Declension

Adverb

sarcastic

1. sarcastically

Related terms

• sarcasm