Adjacent Words

Caricature definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

CARICATURE, n. A figure or description in which beauties are concealed and blemishes exaggerated, but still bearing a resemblance to the object.
CARICATURE, v.t. To make or draw a caricature; to represent as more ugly than the life.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a representation of a person that is exaggerated for comic effect [syn: caricature, imitation, impersonation] v
1: represent in or produce a caricature of; "The drawing caricatured the President" [syn: caricature, ape]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Italian caricatura, literally, act of loading, from caricare to load, from Late Latin carricare Date: 1712 1. exaggeration by means of often ludicrous distortion of parts or characteristics 2. a representation especially in literature or art that has the qualities of caricature 3. a distortion so gross as to seem like caricature • caricatural adjective • caricaturist noun Synonyms: caricature, burlesque, parody, travesty mean a comic or grotesque imitation. caricature implies ludicrous exaggeration of the characteristic features of a subject <caricatures of politicians in cartoons>. burlesque implies mockery especially through giving a serious or lofty subject a frivolous treatment <a nightclub burlesque of a trial in court>. parody applies especially to treatment of a trivial or ludicrous subject in the exactly imitated style of a well-known author or work <a witty parody of a popular novel>. travesty implies that the subject remains unchanged but that the style is extravagant or absurd <this production is a travesty of the opera>. II. transitive verb (-tured; -turing) Date: circa 1771 to make or draw a caricature of ; represent in caricature <the portrait caricatured its subject>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. 1 a grotesque usu. comic representation of a person by exaggeration of characteristic traits, in a picture, writing, or mime. 2 a ridiculously poor or absurd imitation or version. --v.tr. make or give a caricature of. Derivatives: caricatural adj. caricaturist n. Etymology: F f. It. caricatura f. caricare load, exaggerate: see CHARGE

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Caricature Car"i*ca*ture, n. [It. caricatura, fr. caricare to charge, overload, exaggerate. See Charge, v. t.] 1. An exaggeration, or distortion by exaggeration, of parts or characteristics, as in a picture. 2. A picture or other figure or description in which the peculiarities of a person or thing are so exaggerated as to appear ridiculous; a burlesque; a parody. [Formerly written caricatura.] The truest likeness of the prince of French literature will be the one that has most of the look of a caricature. --I. Taylor. A grotesque caricature of virtue. --Macaulay.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Caricature Car"i*ca*ture, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Caricatured; p. pr. & vb. n. Caricaturing.] To make or draw a caricature of; to represent with ridiculous exaggeration; to burlesque. He could draw an ill face, or caricature a good one, with a masterly hand. --Lord Lyttelton.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(caricatures, caricaturing, caricatured) 1. A caricature of someone is a drawing or description of them that exaggerates their appearance or behaviour in a humorous or critical way. The poster showed a caricature of Hitler with a devil's horns and tail... N-COUNT: oft N of n 2. If you caricature someone, you draw or describe them in an exaggerated way in order to be humorous or critical. Her political career has been caricatured in headlines... He was caricatured as a turnip. VERB: V n, be V-ed as n 3. If you describe something as a caricature of an event or situation, you mean that it is a very exaggerated account of it. Hall is angry at what he sees as a caricature of the training offered to modern-day social workers. N-COUNT: usu N of n [disapproval]

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. n. Travesty, parody, farce, burlesque, ludicrous representation, take-off (colloq.). II. v. a. Burlesque, travesty, parody, take off (colloq.).

Moby Thesaurus

Atticism, aggrandize, aggrandizement, agile wit, amplification, amplify, anamorphosis, animated cartoon, bad likeness, ballyhoo, belie, big talk, black humor, blowing up, bosh, botch, build up, bunk, burlesque, camouflage, carry too far, cartoon, cheat, clinquant, color, comedy, comic book, comic strip, comics, daub, dilatation, dilation, disguise, distort, distortion, draw the longbow, dry wit, enhancement, enlargement, esprit, exaggerate, exaggerating, exaggeration, excess, exorbitance, expansion, extravagance, extreme, fake, falsify, farce, funnies, gammon, garble, go to extremes, grandiloquence, heightening, hit off on, hokum, huckstering, humor, hyperbole, hyperbolism, hyperbolize, imitation, inflation, inordinacy, irony, lampoon, laughingstock, lay it on, libel, magnification, magnify, make much of, miscolor, misquote, misreport, misrepresent, misstate, misteach, mock, mockery, moonshine, nimble wit, overcharge, overdo, overdraw, overemphasis, overestimate, overestimation, overkill, overpraise, overreach, overreact, oversell, overspeak, overstate, overstatement, overstress, parody, pasquinade, pastiche, pervert, phony, pile it on, pinchbeck, pleasantry, pretty wit, prodigality, profuseness, puff, puffery, puffing up, quick wit, ready wit, ridicule, salt, sarcasm, satire, satirize, savor of wit, scratch, scribble, send up, sensationalism, sham, shoddy, slant, slapstick, slapstick humor, spoof, squib, stretch, stretch the truth, stretching, subtle wit, superlative, take off, take off on, take-off, takeoff, talk big, talk in superlatives, tall talk, tinsel, tout, touting, travesty, twist, understate, visual humor, warp, wicked imitation, wit, wrench