ridicule synonyms

ridicule

n.

derision, mockery, scorn, contempt, disdain, jeer, leer, disparagement, sneer, rally, flout, fleer, twit, taunt, taunting, making fun of, poking fun, burlesque, caricature, satire, parody, travesty, irony, sarcasm, persiflage, chaff, raillery, badinage, farce, buffoonery, horseplay, foolery, needle*, razz*, rib*, ribbing*, joshing*, ragging*, roast*, raspberry*, horse laugh*.

Antonyms praise*, commendation*, approval.

ridicule

v.

make fun of, deride, mock, taunt, gibe at, scoff at, sneer at, laugh at, point at, grin at, banter, mimic, jeer, tease, twit, chaff, disparage, belittle, flout, scorn, make sport of, poke fun at, fleer, rally, burlesque, caricature, show up, unmask, expose, satirize, parody, lampoon, cartoon, travesty, run down, make a laughing stock of, deflate, put down*, send up*, take off on*, josh*, rag*, razz*, rib*, guy*, ride*, give the Bronx cheer*, pull someone's leg*, point the finger of scorn, have a fling at*, roast*, pan*. *

Antonyms honor, approve*, applaud.

ridicule implies making fun of someone or something but does not necessarily connote malice or hostility he ridiculed her attempts to speak Greek; deride suggests scorn or malicious contempt in ridiculing to deride another's beliefs; mock implies contemptuous ridiculing, esp. by caricaturing another's peculiarities it is cruel to mock his lisp; taunt implies insulting ridicule and often an attempt to provoke, esp. by jeering and repeatedly calling attention to some humiliating fact they taunted him about his failure

Webster's New World Roget's A-Z Thesaurus Copyright © 1999 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.