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derision

UK/dɪˈɹɪʒən/
nounC2Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #13,212 of 15,258neutral

Derision is contemptuous mockery. Greeted with derision, howls of derision, an object of derision.

It is public and collective, which is what separates it from private contempt: derision is laughter aimed at somebody. Greeted with derision is the standing phrase, and it is what happens to a proposal nobody will even argue with.

Creator:Frans Snyders(I) · Public domain

Definitions of derision

  1. 1nounderisionContemptuous mockery.C2

    “The fans' derision followed the goalkeeper off the pitch after his terrible mistake.”

derision is a mockery.

Where it comes from

Latin derisio comes from deridere, to laugh at — de plus ridere, to laugh. Ridiculous is a relative.

  1. Latin

    dērīsiōnem

  2. Old French

    derision

  3. English, today

    derision

From Old French derision, from Latin dērīsiōnem, accusative of dērīsiō, from dērīdēre ("to mock, to laugh at, to deride").

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Song of Ice and Fire

Practise this word

derision in the wild

  • A raspberry, or razz, also known as a Bronx cheer, is a mouth noise similar to a fart that is used to signify derision.

    Blowing a raspberry

  • To this day, he is regarded with a measure of derision on the Williams campus.

    Zephaniah Swift Moore

  • The name Nazarene came from a term of derision used against them for their affectation of a biblical manner of clothing and hair style.

    Nazarene movement

  • The construction is generally used to indicate irony, sarcasm, derision, skepticism, or lack of interest with respect to comments about the discussed object.

    Shm-reduplication

  • Often, the term is used as an indication of disapproval of antisocial or self-destructive behaviors, usually bearing a connotation of contempt and derision.

    Low-life

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

From Project Gutenberg, public domain. These sentences are from real books, shown to illustrate the word at work.