DERISION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does derision mean? 

• DERISION (noun)
  The noun DERISION has 2 senses:

1. contemptuous laughter

2. the act of deriding or treating with contempt

  Familiarity information: DERISION used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DERISION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Contemptuous laughter

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("derision" is a kind of...):

discourtesy; disrespect (an expression of lack of respect)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "derision"):

jeer; jeering; mockery; scoff; scoffing (showing your contempt by derision)

put-down; squelch; squelcher; takedown (a crushing remark)

befooling; stultification (derision of someone or something as foolish or absurd or inconsistent)

Derivation:

deride (treat or speak of with contempt)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The act of deriding or treating with contempt

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

derision; ridicule

Hypernyms ("derision" is a kind of...):

discourtesy; offence; offense; offensive activity (a lack of politeness; a failure to show regard for others; wounding the feelings or others)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "derision"):

mock (the act of mocking or ridiculing)

Derivation:

deride (treat or speak of with contempt)

 Context examples 

She looked at his two sisters, and saw them making signs of derision at each other, and at Darcy, who continued, however, imperturbably grave.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

At one end of the corridor we were all marshalled by Sherlock Holmes, the constables grinning and Lestrade staring at my friend with amazement, expectation, and derision chasing each other across his features.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was in his mind to repeat over the exorcism proper to such attacks; but the two burst out a-laughing at his scared face, and turning on to their heads once more, clapped their heels in derision.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He had completed on that day the first instalment of three thousand words—much to the amusement of Jim, and to the open derision of Mr. Higginbotham, who sneered throughout meal-time at the litery person they had discovered in the family.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

It was a smile that had in it something both of pain and weakness—a haggard old man's smile; but there was, besides that, a grain of derision, a shadow of treachery, in his expression as he craftily watched, and watched, and watched me at my work.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

You dare not, you cannot deny, that you have been the principal, if not the only means of dividing them from each other—of exposing one to the censure of the world for caprice and instability, and the other to its derision for disappointed hopes, and involving them both in misery of the acutest kind.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)