Link Centre Dictionary

ridicule

ri·di·cule

UK/ˈɹɪdɪkjuːl/ US/ˈrɪdʌˌkjul/ uncommon obsolete
verb (1) noun (2)

verb

1.

subject to laughter or ridicule

  • “The satirists ridiculed the plans for a new opera house”
  • “The students poked fun at the inexperienced teacher”
  • “His former students roasted the professor at his 60th birthday”
Synonyms

noun

1.
2.

the act of deriding or treating with contempt

Synonyms

Origin

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.

Phrases

  • ridicule pole

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.