Entertainment / Literature / Ridicule: Words designed to arouse laughter and contempt for a person, idea, or institution. The rhetorical goal is to condemn or criticize the object by ridicule by making it seem suitable only for mockery (i.e., 'ridiculous'). Satirists and some rhetoricians use ridicule as the basis of criticism or argument because they know jokes cannot be satisfactorily addressed in a logical argument. As Robert Harris suggests in his literary terms at virtualsalt.com, 'who can refute a sneer?'
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Ridicule Noun Synonyms: derision, deriding, jeer, jeering, taunt, taunting, mockery, mocking, gibe or jibe, gibing or jibing, raillery, ribbing, razzing, joshing
Ridicule Verb Synonyms: deride, jeer at, taunt, tease, mock, gibe or jibe, guy, chaff, laugh at, caricature, poke fun at, make fun or sport of, lampoon, burlesque, travesty, parody, make a laughing-stock (of), rib, roast, send up, take the mickey out of, Canad
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Entertainment / Literature / Satire: An attack on or criticism of any stupidity or vice in the form of scathing humor, or a critique of what the author sees as dangerous religious, political, moral, or social standards. Satire became an MORE