from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
noun A cutting, often ironic remark intended to express contempt or ridicule.
noun A form of wit characterized by the use of such remarks.
from The Century Dictionary.
noun A biting taunt or gibe, or the use of such a taunt; a bitter, cutting expression; a satirical remark or expression, uttered with scorn or contempt; in rhetoric, a form of irony; bitter irony.
noun SynonymsIrony, etc. (see satire,) taunt, fling.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
noun A keen, reproachful expression; a satirical remark uttered with some degree of scorn or contempt; a taunt; a gibe; a cutting jest.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
noun uncountable A form of humor that is marked by mocking with irony, sometimes conveyed in speech with vocal over-emphasis. Insincerely saying something which is the opposite of one's intended meaning, often to emphasize how unbelievable or unlikely it sounds if taken literally, thereby illustrating the obvious nature of one's intended meaning.
noun countable An act of sarcasm.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
noun witty language used to convey insults or scorn
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[Late Latin sarcasmus, from Greek sarkasmos, from sarkazein, to bite the lips in rage, from sarx, sark-, flesh.]
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From Late Latin sarcasmus, from Ancient Greek σαρκασμός (sarkasmos, "a sneer"), from σαρκάζειν ("gnash the teeth (in anger), literally, to strip off the flesh"), from σάρξ (sarks, "flesh").
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Examples
avengers63, you forgot to use [sarcasm][\sarcasm].
Mr. Smith says that for the future he will give up what he calls sarcasm, and confine himself, "as far as possible," to what he calls dry reasoning from incontrovertible premises.
One, he said with sarcasm, is that “the GOI [government of Israel] forwarded the volunteer e-mail to the Bureau because they want to play by the rules.”
They are SIGNIFICANTly obnoxious, HIGH-RANKING when it comes to ignorance; DOMINANT – yes – in sarcasm and hate; LEADING in Stupidity; IMPORTANT when it comes to saying NO; POWERFUL within their own FAR-RIGHT noRIGHT jurisdiction and last but not least, PROMINENT in a way that shows just how much they are ALL OF THE ABOVE!!!
jonodavis commented on the word sarcasm
What, this is someone's favorite word? Gross.
January 24, 2007
oroboros commented on the word sarcasm
Related to sarcophagus, q.v., to wit: "biting the lips", cutting, wounding speech, designed to abase or belittle.
September 26, 2007
reesetee commented on the word sarcasm
At last, everyone will know when we're being smartasses!
January 16, 2010