Adjacent Words

Satire definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SAT'IRE, n. [L. satira; so named from sharpness, pungency. See satyriasis.]
1. A discourse or poem in which wickedness or folly is exposed with severity. It differs from lampoon and pasquinade, in being general rather than personal.
2. Severity of remark. It differs from sarcasm, in not expressing contempt or scorn.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: witty language used to convey insults or scorn; "he used sarcasm to upset his opponent"; "irony is wasted on the stupid"; "Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own"-- Jonathan Swift [syn: sarcasm, irony, satire, caustic remark]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle French or Latin; Middle French, from Latin satura, satira, perhaps from (lanx) satura dish of mixed ingredients, from feminine of satur well-fed; akin to Latin satis enough — more at sad Date: 1501 1. a literary work holding up human vices and follies to ridicule or scorn 2. trenchant wit, irony, or sarcasm used to expose and discredit vice or folly Synonyms: see wit

Britannica Concise

Artistic form in which human or individual vices, folly, abuses, or shortcomings are held up to censure by means of ridicule, derision, burlesque, irony, or other methods, sometimes with an intent to bring about improvement. Literature and drama are its chief vehicles, but it is also found in such mediums as film, the visual arts (e.g., caricatures), and political cartoons. Though present in Greek literature, notably in the works of Aristophanes, satire generally follows the example of either of two Romans, Horace or Juvenal. To Horace the satirist is an urbane man of the world who sees folly everywhere but is moved to gentle laughter rather than to rage. Juvenal's satirist is an upright man who is horrified and angered by corruption. Their different perspectives produced the subgenres of satire identified by J. Dryden as comic satire and tragic satire.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 the use of ridicule, irony, sarcasm, etc., to expose folly or vice or to lampoon an individual. 2 a work or composition in prose or verse using satire. 3 this branch of literature. 4 a thing that brings ridicule upon something else. 5 Rom. Antiq. a poetic medley, esp. a poem ridiculing prevalent vices or follies. Etymology: F satire or L satira later form of satura medley

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Satire Sat"ire (?; in Eng. often ?; 277), n. [L. satira, satura, fr. satura (sc. lanx) a dish filled with various kinds of fruits, food composed of various ingredients, a mixture, a medley, fr. satur full of food, sated, fr. sat, satis, enough: cf. F. satire. See Sate, Sad, a., and cf. Saturate.] 1. A composition, generally poetical, holding up vice or folly to reprobation; a keen or severe exposure of what in public or private morals deserves rebuke; an invective poem; as, the Satires of Juvenal. 2. Keeness and severity of remark; caustic exposure to reprobation; trenchant wit; sarcasm. Syn: Lampoon; sarcasm; irony; ridicule; pasquinade; burlesque; wit; humor.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(satires) 1. Satire is the use of humour or exaggeration in order to show how foolish or wicked some people's behaviour or ideas are. The commercial side of the Christmas season is an easy target for satire. 2. A satire is a play, film, or novel in which humour or exaggeration is used to criticize something. ...a sharp satire on the American political process. N-COUNT: oft N on n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. Ridicule, sarcasm, invective, irony, philippic, diatribe, fling, squib, lampoon, pasquinade, burlesque, wit, humor, cutting remark.

Moby Thesaurus

Atticism, English sonnet, Goliardic verse, Horatian ode, Hudibrastic verse, Italian sonnet, Petrarchan sonnet, Pindaric ode, Rabelaisian, Sapphic ode, Shakespearean sonnet, agile wit, alba, amoebean verse, anacreontic, balada, ballad, ballade, banter, black humor, bucolic, burlesque, canso, caricature, cartoon, causticity, chaffing, chanson, clerihew, comedy, concrete poetry, cubist poetry, cynicism, dirge, dithyramb, dramatic poetry, dry wit, eclogue, elegiac poetry, elegy, epic, epic poetry, epigram, epithalamium, epode, epopee, epopoeia, epos, erotic poetry, esprit, exaggeration, farce, georgic, ghazel, haiku, hatchet job, heroic poetry, humor, idyll, imagist verse, imitation, innuendo, invective, irony, jingle, lampoon, light verse, limerick, lyric, madrigal, malicious parody, melic poetry, metaphysical poetry, mock-heroic poetry, mockery, monody, narrative poem, narrative poetry, nimble wit, nursery rhyme, ode, oral poetry, palinode, parody, pasquil, pasquin, pasquinade, pastiche, pastoral, pastoral elegy, pastorela, pastourelle, persiflage, pleasantry, poem, poison pen, polyphonic prose, pretty wit, prose poetry, prothalamium, quick wit, raillery, ready wit, rhyme, ridicule, rondeau, rondel, roundel, roundelay, runic verse, salt, sarcasm, satiric wit, satirical poetry, savor of wit, sestina, slapstick, slapstick humor, sloka, song, sonnet, sonnet sequence, spoof, spoofery, spoofing, squib, stichomythia, subtle wit, symbolist verse, take-off, takeoff, tanka, tenso, tenzone, threnody, travesty, triolet, troubadour poem, vers de societe, verse, verselet, versicle, villanelle, virelay, visual humor, wicked imitation, wit