irony
Part of speech: noun
adj
Morphological type: derivation
Etymology: Etymology tree
Ancient Greek εἴρων (eírōn)
Ancient Greek εἰρωνεύομαι (eirōneúomai)
Proto-Indo-European *-h₂
Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂
Proto-Indo-European *-i-eh₂
Proto-Hellenic *-íā
Ancient Greek -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā)
Ancient Greek εἰρωνείᾱ (eirōneíā)der.
Latin īrōnīader.
Old French
Middle French ironieder.
English irony
First attested in 1502. From Middle French ironie, from Old French, from Latin īrōnīa, from Ancient Greek εἰρωνεία (eirōneía, “irony, pretext”), from εἴρων (eírōn, “one who feigns ignorance”).
Base: iron
Affixes: -y
Inflected forms:
form: ironies
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: more irony
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: most irony
pos: adj
tags: superlative
Senses:
gloss: The quality of a statement that, when taken in context, may actually mean something different from, or the opposite of, what is written literally; the use of words expressing something other than their literal intention, often in a humorous context.
pos: noun
tags: countable
rhetoric
uncountable
examples: Irony, saying what it ne'er intends,
Censures with praise, and speaks to foes as friends.
A principal virtue of Rorty's recognition of both the lightminded and the serious side of irony is to urge us in that direction.
gloss: The quality of a statement that, when taken in context, may actually mean something different from, or the opposite of, what is written literally; the use of words expressing something other than their literal intention, often in a humorous context.
pos: noun
tags: countable
rhetoric
examples: It is one of the ironies of capital cities that each acts as a symbol of its nation, and yet few are even remotely representative of it. London has always set itself apart from the rest of Britain — but political, economic and social trends are conspiring to drive that wedge deeper.
The second irony is that the only American who intuitively or otherwise grasps this reality and possesses a large enough ego potentially capable of governing in these circumstances is the president.
gloss: Dramatic irony: a theatrical effect in which the meaning of a situation, or some incongruity in the plot, is understood by the audience, but not by the characters in the play.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: Socratic irony: ignorance feigned for the purpose of confounding or provoking an antagonist.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: Contradiction between circumstances and expectations; condition contrary to what might be expected.
pos: noun
tags: countable
informal
uncountable
gloss: Of or pertaining to the metal iron.
pos: adj
examples: The food had an irony taste to it.
The scrap yard had bins marked for irony aluminum, such as aluminum engine blocks not wholly cleaned of bolts, studs, brackets, and so on.
Thus in Cornwall, and many parts of Germany and France, in mineral districts, an irony appearance of a vein, where seen at the crop, is regarded as favourable.
E. W. Baker, Main St. - No odor, good appearance, slight irony taste; pressure weak. But water which had stood in wash pitcher some three or four days showed pronounced odor.
There can be no doubt that persistent biking robs the female limb of its graceful contour and substitutes therefore the rugged protrusive muscles, the ungainly and irony look of the masculine leg.
It [overgrazing] eventually causes a particularly hard irony surface to the soil which is perfectly unmistakable once you have seen it , and also certain weeds which are also unmistakable once you have seen them.
Raspberries raw, stewing, jamming, pulping, take over my house during July, overlaying the richer, more irony smell of the blackcurrant – a contralto to a soprano.
There was nothing left, besides just the pile of files on my desk, and the irony look on Catherine's face.
Related words: ironically
auxesis
meiosis
sarcasm
Derived words: cosmic irony
dramatic irony
ironic
ironical
ironist
ironize
ironym
irony mark
postirony
post-irony
situational irony
Socratic irony
Translations:
lang: Albanian
word: ironi
lang: Arabic
word: سُخْرِيَة
roman: suḵriya
lang: Arabic
word: مُفَارَقَة
roman: mufāraqa
lang: Arabic
word: تَهَكُّم
roman: tahakkum
lang: Arabic
word: تَعَارُض
roman: taʕāruḍ
lang: Arabic
word: تَنَافُر
roman: tanāfur
lang: Arabic
word: اِسْتِهْزَاء
roman: istihzāʔ
lang: Armenian
word: հեգնանք
roman: hegnankʻ
lang: Armenian
word: իրոնիա
roman: ironia
lang: Azerbaijani
word: istehza
lang: Azerbaijani
word: rişxənd
lang: Azerbaijani
word: kinayə
lang: Belarusian
word: іро́нія
roman: irónija
lang: Bulgarian
word: иро́ния
roman: irónija
lang: Catalan
word: ironia
lang: Chinese Mandarin
word: 反語 /反语
roman: fǎnyǔ
lang: Chinese Mandarin
word: 反話 /反话
roman: fǎnhuà
lang: Chinese Mandarin
word: 諷刺 /讽刺
roman: fěngcì
lang: Czech
word: ironie
lang: Danish
word: ironi
lang: Dutch
word: ironie
lang: Esperanto
word: ironio
lang: Estonian
word: iroonia
lang: Finnish
word: ironia
lang: French
word: ironie
lang: Galician
word: ironía
lang: Galician
word: retranca
lang: Georgian
word: ირონია
roman: ironia
lang: German
word: Ironie
lang: Greek
word: ειρωνεία
roman: eironeía
lang: Hebrew
word: אִירוֹנְיָה
roman: irónya
lang: Hindi
word: विडम्बना
roman: viḍambanā
lang: Hindi
word: विडंबना
roman: viḍambnā
lang: Hindi
word: व्यंग्य
roman: vyaṅgya
lang: Hungarian
word: irónia
lang: Icelandic
word: írónía
lang: Indonesian
word: ironi
lang: Interlingua
word: ironia
lang: Irish
word: íoróin
lang: Italian
word: ironia
lang: Italian
word: paradosso
lang: Japanese
word: 反語
roman: hango
lang: Japanese
word: 諷刺
roman: fūshi
lang: Japanese
word: アイロニー
roman: aironī
lang: Kazakh
word: ирония
roman: ironiä
lang: Korean
word: 반어
roman: baneo
lang: Korean
word: 풍자
roman: pungja
lang: Kyrgyz
word: ирония
roman: ironiya
lang: Latvian
word: ironija
lang: Lithuanian
word: ironija
lang: Macedonian
word: иронија
roman: ironija
lang: Māori
word: kōrero takahiri
lang: Māori
word: kōrori
lang: Norwegian Bokmål
word: ironi
lang: Norwegian Nynorsk
word: ironi
lang: Persian
word: گواژه
roman: govâže
lang: Persian
word: استهزا
roman: estehzâ
lang: Persian
word: کنایه
roman: kenâye
lang: Persian
word: ریشخند
roman: rišxand
lang: Polish
word: ironia
lang: Portuguese
word: ironia
lang: Romanian
word: ironie
lang: Russian
word: иро́ния
roman: irónija
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: иро̀нија
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: irònija
lang: Slovak
word: irónia
lang: Slovene
word: ironija
lang: Spanish
word: ironía
lang: Swedish
word: ironi
lang: Tagalog
word: libak
lang: Tagalog
word: parikala
lang: Tajik
word: истеҳзо
roman: istehzo
lang: Tajik
word: ришханд
roman: rišxand
lang: Tajik
word: киноя
roman: kinoya
lang: Tamil
word: வஞ்சப்புகழ்ச்சி
roman: vañcappukaḻcci
lang: Thai
word: การแฝงนัย
roman: gaan-fɛ̌ɛng-nai
lang: Thai
word: คำแดกดัน
roman: kam-dɛ̀ɛk-dan
lang: Thai
word: คำถากถาง
roman: kam-tàak-tǎang
lang: Thai
word: คำประชด
roman: kam-bprà-chót
lang: Thai
word: คำประชดประชัน
roman: kam-bprà-chót-bprà-chan
lang: Thai
word: คำเย้ยหยัน
roman: kam-yə́əi-yǎn
lang: Turkish
word: tezat
lang: Turkish
word: ironi
lang: Turkish
word: istihza
lang: Ukrainian
word: іро́нія
roman: irónija
lang: Urdu
word: اِسْتِہْزا
roman: istehzā
lang: Uyghur
word: ئىرونىيە
roman: ironiye
lang: Uyghur
word: كىنايە
roman: kinaye
lang: Uyghur
word: تەنە
roman: tene
lang: Uzbek
word: istehzo
lang: Uzbek
word: kinoya
lang: Uzbek
word: ironiya
lang: Vietnamese
word: giống thép
lang: Vietnamese
word: giống gang