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caricature

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The definition of caricature means a drawing or description which has features or mannerisms which are exaggerated.

(noun)

An editorial cartoon in the newspaper is an example of a caricature.

See caricature in Webster's New World College Dictionary

noun

a picture or imitation of a person, literary style, etc. in which certain features or mannerisms are exaggerated for satirical effect
the act or art of making such caricatures
a likeness or imitation that is so distorted or inferior as to seem ludicrous

Origin: Fr < It caricatura, satirical picture, lit., an overloading < caricare, to load, exaggerate < VL carricare: see charge

transitive verb caricatured, caricaturing

to depict in or as in a caricature

Related Forms:

caricaturist noun

See caricature in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun

a. A representation, especially pictorial or literary, in which the subject's distinctive features or peculiarities are deliberately exaggerated to produce a comic or grotesque effect.
b. The art of creating such representations.
A grotesque imitation or misrepresentation: The trial was a caricature of justice.

transitive verb car·i·ca·tured, car·i·ca·tur·ing, car·i·ca·tures

To represent or imitate in an exaggerated, distorted manner.

Origin:

Origin: French

Origin: , from Italian caricatura

Origin: , from caricare, to load, exaggerate

Origin: , from Late Latin carricāre

Origin: , from Latin carrus, a Gallic type of wagon; see kers- in Indo-European roots

Related Forms:

carˈi·ca·turˌist noun

Word History: The history of the word caricature takes us back through the centuries to a time when the Romans occupied Gaul, offering the blessings of civilization to the Gauls but also borrowing from them as well. One such borrowing, the Gaulish word *karros, meaning “a wagon or cart,” became Latin carrus, “a Gallic type of wagon.” This Latin word has continued to roll through the English language, giving us car, career, cargo, carry, and charge, among others. Caricature, another offspring of carrus, came to us via French from Italian, in which caricatura, the source of the French word, was derived from Italian caricare, “to load, burden, or exaggerate.” Caricare in turn came from Late Latin carricāre, “to load,” derived from the Romans' Gaulish borrowing carrus.

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