derision - Wiktionary, the free dictionary


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From Old French derision, from Latin dērīsiōnem, accusative of dērīsiō, from dērīdēre ("to mock, to laugh at, to deride").

derision (countable and uncountable, plural derisions)

  1. Act of treating with disdain.
    • 1969, Mario Puzo, The Godfather:

      There was just a touch of derision in the Don's voice and Hagen flushed.

    • 2011 December 15, Felicity Cloake, “How to cook the perfect nut roast”, in Guardian[1]:

      One of the darlings of the early vegetarian movement (particularly in its even sadder form, the cutlet), it was on the menu at John Harvey Kellogg's Battle Creek Sanitarium [sic], and has since become the default Sunday option for vegetarians – and a default source of derision for everyone else.

  2. Something to be derided; a laughing stock.

act of treating with contempt