Other forms: derided, deriding, derides
To deride is to laugh at somebody with contempt. Deride the idea, widely derided, derided as naive.
The contempt is what separates it from teasing — deriding is not affectionate. It usually appears in the passive, as derided as something. The Latin is de plus ridere, to laugh, which is also behind ridiculous.
1verbderideTo laugh at somebody with contempt.
“Critics derided the film as the worst of the year.”
deride is a mocking.
Latin deridere means to laugh at, from de-, down, plus ridere, to laugh. Ridiculous comes from the same laughter.
Proto-Indo-European
*wert- — to rotate; to turn
Latin
dērīdēre
English, today
deride
Built from
Latin dērīdēre, the present active infinitive of dērīdeō (“to laugh at, make fun of, mock, deride”), from dē- + rīdeō (“to laugh; to laugh at, mock, ridicule”) (further etymology uncertain, possibly from Proto-Indo-European wert- (“to rotate; to turn”) (referring to turning the mouth to smile) or wreyd- (“to carve; to scratch”)). 2
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA