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ridicule

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈɹɪdɪkjuːl/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Hyphenation: rid‧i‧cule

Etymology 1

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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.[1]

Verb

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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
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Translations
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Noun

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ridicule (countable and uncountable, plural ridicules)

  1. Derision; mocking or humiliating words or behavior.
    • 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.
    • 1989, “John the Fisherman”, performed by Primus:
      When he was young you'd not find him doing well in school,
      His mind would turn unto the waters.
      Always the focus of adolescent ridicule,
      He has no time for farmer's daughters.
      Alienated from the clique society,
      A lonely boy finds peace in fishing.
  2. An object of sport or laughter; a laughing stock.
  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
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Derived terms
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Translations
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See also
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Adjective

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ridicule (comparative more ridicule, superlative most ridicule)

  1. (obsolete) ridiculous
    • late 17th century, John Aubrey, Brief Lives
      This action […] became so ridicule.

Etymology 2

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From French ridicule, probably jocular alteration of réticule.

Noun

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ridicule (plural ridicules)

  1. (now historical) A small woman's handbag; a reticule. [from 18th c.]
    • 1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], chapter XVI, in Emma: […], volume III, London: […] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] 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

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  1. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “ridicule”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Further reading

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French

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Etymology

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Learned borrowing from Latin rīdiculus.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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ridicule (plural ridicules)

  1. ridiculous (all meanings)

Derived terms

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Noun

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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

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Latin

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Etymology

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

Adverb

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rīdiculē (comparative rīdiculius, superlative rīdiculissimē)

  1. laughably, amusingly
  2. absurdly, ridiculously

Synonyms

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References

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  • “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.
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