Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Scornfully contemptuous ridicule; derision.
  • noun A specific act of ridicule or derision.
  • noun An object of scorn or ridicule.
  • noun A false, derisive, or impudent imitation.
  • noun Something ludicrously futile or unsuitable.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The act of mocking; derisive or deceitful speech or action.
  • noun Derision; ridicule; careless insult or contempt; sport; jest.
  • noun Counterfeit appearance; false show; sham.
  • noun Vain effort; fruitless labor; that which disappoints or frustrates.
  • noun Synonyms Mimicry, jeering, gibes.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The act of mocking, deriding, and exposing to contempt, by mimicry, by insincere imitation, or by a false show of earnestness; a counterfeit appearance.
  • noun Insulting or contemptuous action or speech; contemptuous merriment; derision; ridicule.
  • noun Subject of laughter, derision, or sport.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The action of mocking; ridicule, derision.
  • noun Something so lacking in necessary qualities as to inspire ridicule; a laughing-stock.
  • noun obsolete Something insultingly imitative; an offensively futile action, gesture etc.
  • noun Mimicry, imitation, now usually in a derogatory sense; a travesty, a ridiculous simulacrum.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a composition that imitates or misrepresents somebody's style, usually in a humorous way
  • noun humorous or satirical mimicry
  • noun showing your contempt by derision

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Fropm Anglo-Norman mokerie, mokery, and Middle French mocquerie, moquerie, from moquer, moker ("to mock") + -erie ("-ery"), perhaps from Greek μωκός - mokos, "mocker".

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Examples

  • Unlike Colbert, who more fully understands what the term mockery means than anyone I've watched in recent memory.

    Scott Thill: Truthiness and Consequences 2008

  • Sorry Bob, mockery is the only answer to your GOOOOLLDDDD buggery.

    Matthew Yglesias » Is The Fed Stifling Recovery? 2010

  • But when it came time to dismount, the formation lurched to one side before breaking apart, sending one cheerleader tumbling to the turf and prompting a volley of mockery from the broadcast booth.

    Alumni Dust Off the Pom-Pons Hannah Karp 2010

  • He, perched upon his canoe, looked on in mockery; yet the ancestors whose seed he bore pressed heavily upon him, and he swore his strongest oaths that his courage might be cheered.

    THE MASTER OF MYSTERY 2010

  • Some of his most scathing mockery is reserved for people who take out loans to pay tuition at an expensive private college.

    Lead Us Not Into Debt 2009

  • Some of his most scathing mockery is reserved for people who take out loans to pay tuition at an expensive private college.

    Lead Us Not Into Debt 2009

  • However, unless the mockery is part of something like a SNL sketch, I think there are more respectful ways of discussing differring religious views. datingjesus

    Standing up to Jesus « Dating Jesus 2009

  • In 1030, the legendary King Canute, who once tried to command the tides of England in mockery of his flattering courtiers, invaded the lands of Olaf in Norway.

    The Last Viking Warrior | Heretical Ideas Magazine 2009

  • O! what a miserable night I passed! the cold stars shone in mockery, and the bare trees waved their branches above me: now and then the sweet voice of a bird burst forth amidst the universal stillness.

    Chapter 16 2010

  • These Republicans are as wrong as wrong can be, and history, I am sure, will mock them, but they were not elected by history, and they are impervious to mockery from the likes of me.

    Matthew Yglesias » Gerrymandering is Not the Root of All Evil 2009

Comments

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  • Fun word.

    November 18, 2007

  • Reminiscent of another fun term: jiggery-pokery.

    November 18, 2007