mockery

Etymology

From Middle English mokkery, from Anglo-Norman mokerie, mokery and Middle French mocquerie, moquerie, from moquer, moker (“to mock”) + -erie (“-ery”), perhaps from Byzantine Greek μωκός (mōkós, “mocker”), perhaps from Arabic مَكْر (makr, “scheme, plot”). Equivalent to mock + -ery.

noun

  1. The action of mocking; ridicule, derision.
  2. Something so lacking in necessary qualities as to inspire ridicule; a laughing-stock.
  3. (obsolete) Something insultingly imitative; an offensively futile action, gesture etc.
  4. Mimicry, imitation, now usually in a derogatory sense; a travesty, a ridiculous simulacrum.
    The defendant wasn't allowed to speak at his own trial - it was a mockery of justice.

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