Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Sarcasm |
SarcasmNoun1. Witty language used to convey insults or scorn; "he used sarcasm to upset his opponent"; "irony is wasted on the stupid". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "sarcasm" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1550. (references) |
Etymology: Sarcasm \Sar"casm\, noun. [French expression sarcasme, from Latin expression sarcasmus, Greek sarkasmo`s, from sarka`zein to tear flesh like dogs, to bite the lips in rage, to speak bitterly, to sneer, from sa`rx, sa`rkos, flesh.]. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Literature | Sarcasm A flaying or plucking off of the skin; a cutting taunt (Greek, sarkazo, to flay, etc.). Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Sarcasm is a form of humor in which someone says something that is definitely not true, but in a tone that says they don't believe it. This is often associated with eye-rolling.See also Irony.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Sarcasm."
Synonyms: SarcasmSynonyms: caustic remark (n), irony (n), satire (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Detraction | Sarcasm, cynicism; criticism (disapprobation); invective; envenomed tongue; spretae injuria formae. |
Disapprobation | Animadversion, reflection, stricture, objection, exception, criticism; sardonic grin, sardonic laugh; sarcasm, insinuation, innuendo; bad compliment, poor compliment, left-handed compliment. |
Disrespect | Vilipendency, vilification, contumely, affront, dishonor, insult, indignity, outrage, discourtesy; practical joking; scurrility, scoffing, sibilance, hissing, sibilation; irrision; derision; mockery; irony; (ridicule); sarcasm. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Sarcasm |
| English words defined with "sarcasm": By-wipe ♦ caustic remark, Causticily, Choke pear, commingle ♦ ghost ♦ ironist, irony ♦ ridiculer ♦ Sarcastical, satire, satirist ♦ The five wits, To run on, touch, trace. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "sarcasm": Articles interchanged ♦ non-optimal solution ♦ SHAW. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Sarcasm" is also a word in the following language with English translations in parentheses. Romanian (acridity, causticity, fling, malice, mordacity, sarcasm, sneer). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Don't you know a sarcasm when you hear it (A Charlie Brown Christmas; writing credit: Charles M. Schulz) sarcasm. (Buffy the Vampire Slayer; writing credit: Doreen Spicer) Why do your people always go to sarcasm first (Will & Grace; writing credit: Evan Weinstein) Sarcasm not appreciated (Transformers; writing credit: George Arthur Bloom; Doug Booth) This woman drips with sarcasm at my personal expense (Ally McBeal; writing credit: Henri Vernes) | |
Lyrics | No dark sarcasm in the classroom ("Another Brick in the Wall"; performing artist: Pink Floyd) Get up and see the sarcasm in my eyes (Millennium; performing artist: Robbie Williams) I often think that we were born to hateGet up and see the sarcasm in my eyes (Millennium; performing artist: Robbie Williams) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Author | Quotation |
Bill Hicks | I love talking about the Warren Commission, I love talking about the Kennedy assasination as well. The reason I do is because I'm fascinated by it. I'm fascinated that our government could lie to us so blatantly, so obviously for so long, and we do absolutely nothing about it. I think that's interesting in what is ostensibly a democracy. Sarcasm - come on in. People say, "Bill, quit talking about Kennedy man. It was a long time ago, just let it go, alright? It's a long time ago, just forget it." I'm like, alright, then don't bring up Jesus to me. As long as we're talking shelf life here, you know. |
Rufus Choate | Neither irony nor sarcasm is argument. |
Thomas Carlyle | Sarcasm I now see to be, in general, the language of the devil; for which reason I have long since as good as renounced it. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | In small cities an unfortunate woman seems to be laid bare to the sarcasm and the curiosity of all. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Sarcasm" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Sarcasm" is used about 278 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 100% | 278 | 17,541 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
sarcasm | 100 |
dark sarcasm | 16 |
sarcasm quote | 7 |
humor sarcasm | 5 |
pop sarcasm | 4 |
insult sarcasm | 4 |
definition sarcasm | 3 |
in kiss sarcasm stop | 3 |
page sarcasm tolkien | 3 |
sarcasm t shirt | 3 |
tolkien sarcasm | 3 |
dark sarcasm snape | 2 |
form lowest sarcasm wit | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "sarcasm"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | sarkazëm (caustic, vitriol). (various references) | |
Arabic | تهكم (deride, flippancy, gibe, irony, jeer, mockery, persiflage, quip, ridicule, satire, taunt), سخرية (burlesque, derision, fling, gibe, humor, humour, irony, jeer, lampoon, laughter, mockery, persiflage, quip, ridicule, rub, scoff, scorn, shy, snap, sneer, spoof, taunt, tee-hee, tehee, twit, wit), السخرية. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | сарказъм (acerbity, hit, nip, pungency, sneer). (various references) | |
Chinese | 讽刺 (ironical, sarcastic, Sarcastical, satire, satiric, satirical). (various references) | |
Czech | sarkasmus. (various references) | |
Dutch | sarcasme (acidness). (various references) | |
Esperanto | sarkasmo. (various references) | |
Faeroese | spei (acidness, irony), glósa (acidness). (various references) | |
Farsi | سخن طعنه امیز, سرزنش (Blame, Censure, Demerit, Obloquy, Rail, Remonstrance, Reproach, Reproof, Snub, Twit, Vituperation), زهرخنده , طعنه (Irony, Jape, Jeer, Jest, Quip, Rail, Satire, Scoff, Sikt, Taunt), ریشخند (Jeer, Ridicule, Scoff). (various references) | |
Finnish | pistosana (gibe, sarcastic remark), kompasana, ivallisuus (scornfulness). (various references) | |
French | sarcasme (sarcastic remark). (various references) | |
German | Sarkasmus (acidness), Spott (derision, derisiveness, fleer, gibe, jeer, jibe, mockery, ridicule, scoff, sneer, taunt). (various references) | |
Greek | σαρκασμόσ (quip). (various references) | |
Hebrew | ש י ות (cleverness, ingeniousness, ingenuity, perspicacity, salt, subtlety, wit), עוקץ (acantha, barb, briar, mordant, point, pointed, spine, sting, tip), עוקצ ות (mordancy, pungency, stinging, waspishness), עקיצ" (bite, mordancy, sting), סרקזם. (various references) | |
Hungarian | maró gúny (acrimoniousness, nip), szarkazmus (nip), gúnyos megjegyzés (dig, fling, hit, sarcastic remark, sneer, taunt). (various references) | |
Indonesian | sindiran tajam. (various references) | |
Italian | sarcasmo (derision, lash, mordacity). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 諷刺 (innuendo, irony, lampoon, satire), 皮肉 (cynicism), 皮肉 (cynicism), 厭味 (disagreeableness, gaudiness), 冷評 (jeer, sneer), 嫌味 (disagreeableness, gaudiness). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | ひにく (cynicism, meat from a pig's thigh, round meat), ふうし (appearance, Confucius, demeanor, innuendo, irony, lampoon, satire, term of address for a teacher, wind god), いやみ (disagreeableness, gaudiness), れいひょう (jeer, sneer). (various references) | |
Korean | '자 (satiric, satirical). (various references) | |
Manx | grinderys (satire, sneer), gallverg (bitter enemy, ferocity, spite, spiteful hatred, virulence, virulent anger). (various references) | |
Papiamen | sarkasmo (acidness). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | arcasmsay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | sarcasmo (acidness, acridity, gibe, gird, irony, jibe, lash, satire, sneer, taunt). (various references) | |
Romanian | sarcasm (acridity, causticity, fling, malice, mordacity, sneer), ironie muşcãtoare. (various references) | |
Russian | сарказм (vitriol). (various references) | |
Scottish | imisg (a sarcasm). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | sarkazam. (various references) | |
Spanish | sarcasmo (gird, irony, quip, taunt). (various references) | |
Swedish | sarkasm (quirk). (various references) | |
Thai | การถากถาง. (various references) | |
Turkish | istihza, iğneleme (dart, dig, pinning, pinprick, pointer, prick, quip, rub), gizli alay (irony), dokundurma (adumbration, allusion, hint, implicitness, innuendo, skit), dokunaklı alay. (various references) | |
Ukrainian | сарказм (caustic, squib). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | sự mỉa mai châm biếm, sự chế nhạo (derision, game, gibe, gird, girt, ridicule), t i mỉa mai châm biếm, ngôn ngữ mỉa mai châm biếm t i chế nhạo, lời mỉa mai, lời chế nhạo (jest, mockery), lời chân biếm. (various references) | |
Welsh | gwatwareg (irony, satire), coegni (spite, vanity). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Greek | 700 BCE-300 CE | sarkasmos. (various references) |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | aculei. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "sarcasm": sarcasms. (additional references) | |
| |
"Sarcasm" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Sacasa, sacrasm, Sarasa, sarcarsm, sarcasam, sarcasim, sarcasme, sarcasmu, sarcasn, sarchasm, sargasm, Sercambi, sicras, sricams, Wargasm. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "sarcasm" (pronounced sÄ"rka'zum) |
| 4 | -a' z u m | neoplasm, cytoplasm, enthusiasm, iconoclasm. |
| 3 | -z u m | absenteeism, absolutism, abolitionism, activism, adventurism, agrarianism, alcoholism, altruism, amateurism, anachronism, aneurism, animism, antagonism, aphorism, astigmatism, atavism, atheism, authoritarianism, autism, baptism, barbarism, bilingualism, bolshevism, boosterism, bosom, botulism, mechanism, mercantilism, mesmerism, metabolism, methodism, microcosm, microorganism, militarism, minimalism, modernism, monasticism, monetarism, monism, monotheism, moralism, multiculturalism, multilateralism, mutualism, mysticism, narcissism, nationalism, nativism, naturalism, negativism, nepotism, neutralism, nihilism, obstructionism, opportunism, optimism, organism, orgasm, ostracism, overoptimism, pacifism, paganism, parallelism, parkinsonism, parochialism, pastoralism, paternalism, patriotism, perfectionism, pessimism, phantasm, pharisaism, pietism, plagiarism, pluralism, polymorphism, polytheism, populism, positivism, pragmatism, prism, professionalism, protectionism, provincialism, puritanism, racialism, racism, radicalism, realism, cannibalism, capitalism, careerism, catechism, centralism, chasm, chauvinism, classicism, collectivism, colonialism, commercialism, communism, conservatism, consumerism, corporatism, counterterrorism, creationism, criticism, cronyism, cubism, cynicism, dandyism, defeatism, deism, despotism, determinism, diamagnetism, diastrophism, dimorphism, dogmatism, Druidism, dualism, dwarfism, dynamism, egalitarianism, egoism, egotism, electromagnetism, elitism, embolism, emotionalism, empiricism, entrepreneurialism, environmentalism, ergotism, eroticism, escapism, ethnocentrism, euphemism, evangelism, expansionism, expressionism, extremism, factionalism, fanaticism, fascism, fatalism, favoritism, federalism, feminism, ferromagnetism, fetishism, feudalism, formalism, fundamentalism, futurism, geotropism, gnosticism, gradualism, hedonism, helotism, heroism, hooliganism, humanism, hypnotism, idealism, illusionism, imperialism, impressionism, incrementalism, individualism, intellectualism, internationalism, interventionism, Irredentism, ism, isolationism, isomorphism, jingoism, journalism, leftism, legalism, lesbianism, liberalism, lyricism, magnetism, mannerism, masochism, materialism, recidivism, relativism, republicanism, revisionism, rheumatism, romanticism, sadism, satanism, schism, sectarianism, secularism, sensationalism, separatism, sexism, skepticism, socialism, spasm, statism, stoicism, supernaturalism, surrealism, symbolism, synergism, territorialism, terrorism, theism, tokenism, totalitarianism, tourism, truism, unionism, vandalism, vegetarianism, vigilantism, voluntarism, volunteerism, voyeurism. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-a-c-m-r-s-s" | |
-1 letter: camass, scrams. | |
-2 letters: amass, camas, casas, crams, crass, maars, marcs, massa, sacra, scams, scars, scram. | |
-3 letters: amas, arcs, arms, cams, cars, casa, cram, maar, macs, marc, mars, mass, rams, sacs, scam, scar. | |
-4 letters: aas, ama, arc, arm, ars, ass, cam, car, mac, mar, mas, ram, ras, sac. | |
-5 letters: aa, am, ar, as, ma. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-a-c-m-r-s-s" | |
+1 letter: marascas, mascaras, massacre, sarcasms, sarcomas. | |
+2 letters: archaisms, massacred, massacrer, massacres, smearcase. | |
+3 letters: anarchisms, marcasites, massacrers, massacring, racialisms, sacraments, sarcoplasm, sarcosomal, scalograms, smearcases. | |
+4 letters: ambuscaders, antiracisms, caramelises, macroscales, maraschinos, marshalcies, mascarpones, masticators, megaparsecs, pharmacists, radicalisms, sarcolemmas, sarcomatous, sarcoplasms. | |
+5 letters: achromatisms, anachronisms, antimacassar, astrocytomas, biracialisms, cavalierisms, charismatics, commissarial, commissariat, comparatists, emasculators, magistracies, miscarriages, osteosarcoma, psychodramas, sacramentals, sarcomatoses, sarcomatosis, sarcoplasmic, scaramouches, scattergrams, sectarianism, semiabstract. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Quotations: Familiar 7. Quotations: Fiction 8. Usage Frequency | 9. Expressions: Internet 10. Translations: Modern 11. Translations: Ancient 12. Derivations | 13. Rhymes 14. Anagrams 15. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
