Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Satirize |
SatirizeVerb1. Ridicule with satire; "The writer satirized the politician's proposal". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "satirize" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1749. (references) |
Note: Satirize \Sat"ir*ize\, transitive verb. [imperative past participle Satirized; present participle verb or noun Satirizing.]. (references) |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Satire is a literary technique of writing or art which principally ridicules its subject (individuals, organisations, states) often as an intended means of provoking change or preventing it. Satire is not exclusive to any viewpoint. Parody is a form of satire that imitates another work of art in order to ridicule it.
There are several types of satire:
Some examples of satire are:
- Diminution: Reduces the size of something in order that it may be made to appear ridiculous or in order to be examined closely and have its faults seen close up. For example, treating the Canadian Members of Parliament as a squabbling group of little boys is an example of diminution. Gulliver's Travels is a diminutive satire.
- Inflation: A common technique of satire is to take a real-life situation and exaggerate it to such a degree that it becomes ridiculous and its faults can be seen, and thus satirical. For example, two boys arguing over a possession of a car can be inflated into an interstellar war. The Rape of the Lock is an example of inflation.
- Juxtaposition: Places things of unequal importance side by side. It brings all the things down to the lowest level of importance on the list. For example, if a guy says his important subjects in school include Calculus, Computer Science, Physics, and girl-watching, he has managed to take away some of the importance of the first three. The Rape of the Lock is also an example of juxtaposition.
- Parody: Imitates the techniques and style of some person, place, or thing. Parody is used for mocking or mocking its idea of the person, place, or thing. Monty Python is an example of parody.
The line between parody and satire is often blurred. Satires need not be humorous, indeed they are often tragic, while parodies are almost inevitably humorous. Some parodies with heavy elements of satire include:
- A Tale of a Tub, Gulliver's Travels and "A Modest Proposal" by Jonathan Swift, harsh views of the world
- Candide by Voltaire, satirizing optimism
- Erewhon by Samuel Butler II, a utopia, a form that is common in satire.
- Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell, a dystopia, also common in satire.
- Ubu Roi (or King Turd), by Alfred Jarry, cacotopia
- Penguin Island by Anatole France, utopia
- Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, dystopia
- Mark Twain's later works, notably The Man Who Corrupted Hadleyburg
- C. Northcote Parkinson was a British 20th century writer of satire on bureaucracy.
- Thomas Nast's political cartoons against Boss Tweed
- The Landover Baptist Church an internet parody of Christian Fundamentalism
- Stanley Kubrick's motion pictures Doctor Strangelove and A Clockwork Orange.
Some works of satire are subtle enough in their exaggeration that they still seem believable to many people. The comedic intent of these works of satire may be lost on the public at large, and there have been instances where the author or producers of a satirical work have been harshly criticized as a result. In 2002 the British network Channel Four aired a satiric "mockumentary" entitled Paedogeddon, which was intended to mock and satirize the fascination of modern journalism with child molestors and paedophiless. The TV network received an enormous number of complaints from members of the public, who were outraged that the show would mock a subject considered by many to be too "serious" to be the subject of humor.
- The Monty Python opus, satirizing British character types.
- Private Eye magazine
- The Onion's parody of journalism
- Chris Morris's Brass Eye - a parody of TV news programmes
- The Daily Show - parody of TV news
- 'Hot Shots' (parody of 'Top Gun' and 'Hot Shots 2' (parody of the 'Rambo' films)
- The Austin Powers trilogy parodies several other movies
- The Capitol Steps musical performances satires politics from both sides of the political spectrum and day-to-day life
On occasion, satire can cause social change when used to make a political or social point. For instance, the comic strip Doonesbury satirized a Florida county that had a racist law that minorities had to have a passcard in the area; the law was soon repealed with an act nicknamed the Doonesbury Act. In the 2000 Canadian federal election campaign, a Canadian Alliance proposal for a mechanism to require a referendum in response to a petition of sufficient size was satirized by the television show This Hour Has 22 Minutes so effectively that it was discredited and soon dropped.
Satire enjoyed a renaissance in the UK in the early 1960s with the Satire Boom, led by such luminaries as Peter Cook, Alan Bennett, Jonathan Miller, David Frost, Eleanor Bron and Dudley Moore and the television programme That Was The Week That Was.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Satire."
Synonyms: SatirizeSynonyms: lampoon (v), satirise (v). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Disapprobation | Scoff at, point at; twit, taunt; (disrespect); sneer at; (despise); satirize, lampoon; defame; (detract); depreciate, find fault with, criticize, cut up; pull to pieces, pick to pieces; take exception; cavil; peck at, nibble at, carp at; be censorious; Adjective: pick holes, pick a hole, pick a hole in one's coat; make a fuss about. |
Ridicule | Satirize, parody, caricature, burlesque, travesty. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Satirize |
| English words defined with "satirize": Exagitate ♦ Iambize ♦ Satirized, Satirizing. (references) |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Economic History | Nepal | The law strictly forbids the media to criticize or satirize the king or any member of the royal family. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Satirize" is generally used as a lexical verb (infinitive) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Satirize" is used about 2 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 |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 100% | 2 | 245,945 |
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 |
satirize | 7 |
character excessive moliere religious satirize tartuffe use zeal | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "satirize"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | satirizoj. (various references) | |
Arabic | هجا (lampoon), سخر (befool, chip, debunk, deride, fleer, guy, jape, jeer, kid, lampoon, laugh at, make a game of, make fun of, mimic, mock, monkey, override, persiflage, pillory, poke fun, pooh pooh, quip, quiz, rally, rib, ridicule, scoff, send up, smile, snap, sneer, snigger, taunt, tee-hee, twit). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | осмивам (deride, lampoon, mock, ridicule, scoff, sneer, take off, twit). (various references) | |
Chinese | 諷 . (various references) | |
Czech | satirizovat, být satirou na. (various references) | |
Farsi | مسخره کردن (Imp, Jape, Kid, Quiz), هجوکردن (Lampoon). (various references) | |
French | faire la satire de, bafouer. (various references) | |
German | satirisch darstellen, verspotten (deride, gibe, jeer at, lampoon, make fun of, mock, ridicule, taunt, to deride, to flout, to lampoon, to mock, to ridicule, to satirize), persiflieren (burlesque), beschreiben (characterize, delineate, depict, describe, draw, picture, qualify, to describe, write, write on). (various references) | |
Greek | σατυρίζω (squib). (various references) | |
Hebrew | לתקוף בסאטיר", לסטר. (various references) | |
Hungarian | ostoroz (flagellate, flog, to flay, to flog, to scourge, to whip), kigúnyol (deride, fleer, jeer, joke, lampoon, ridicule, taunt, to deride, to flout, to gibe, to jibe, to pan, to rally, to razz, to ridicule, to scorch, to scorn, to twit). (various references) | |
Indonesian | menyindir (allude, insinuate, to make allusion). (various references) | |
Italian | satireggiare (satirise), canzonare (banter, deride, flout, joke, make fun of, razz, ridicule, tease, twit). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 諷する (to hint, to insinuate, to satirize). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | ふうする (to hint, to insinuate, to satirize). (various references) | |
Manx | skittal, jannoo grinderys. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | atirizesay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | satirizar (lampoon, lash). (various references) | |
Romanian | satiriza (squib), batjocori (abuse, bemock, deride, disdain, flout, rape, scoff, scorn, shame, taunt, violate). (various references) | |
Russian | высмеивать (deride, jape, make a game of, make fun, make fun of, make game of, mock, razz). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | satirizirati. (various references) | |
Spanish | satirizar (lampoon, send up). (various references) | |
Swedish | satirisera. (various references) | |
Turkish | yermek (revile, revile against smth., revile at smth., slander, vilify), taşlamak (lapidate, pelt, rectify, stone), hicvetmek (epigrammatize, lampoon, travesty). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | висміювати (befool, caricature, deride, droll, jape, make fun of, mock, quip). (various references) | |
Welsh | goganu (defame, lampoon). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "satirize": satirized, satirizes. (additional references) | |
| |
"Satirize" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: rasterize, sectorize. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "satirize" (pronounced sa"terī'z) |
| 4 | -t er ī' z | characterize, computerize, demilitarize, militarize, mischaracterize, motorize, winterize. |
| 3 | -er ī' z | accessorize, authorize, containerize, burglarize, categorize, colorize, denuclearize, depressurize, familiarize, glamorize, memorize, mesmerize, miniaturize, pasteurize, plagiarize, polarize, polymerize, popularize, pressurize, pulverize, reauthorize, rubberize, samurais, summarize, temporize, terrorize, theorize, vaporize. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-e-i-i-r-s-t-z" | |
-1 letter: airiest. | |
-2 letters: airest, ersatz, ritzes, satire, sizier, striae, terais, zaires. | |
-3 letters: airts, arise, aster, astir, irate, izars, raise, rates, razes, retia, rites, serai, sitar, sizar, sizer, stair, stare, stria, tares, tarsi, tears, terai, tiers, tires, tries, tzars, zaire, zetas, zitis. | |
-4 letters: airs, airt, aits, ares, arse, arts, ates, ears, east, eats, eras, erst, etas. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-e-i-i-r-s-t-z" | |
+1 letter: satirized, satirizes, triazines, vizirates. | |
+2 letters: cicatrizes, parasitize, privatizes, ritualizes, stabilizer, vizierates. | |
+3 letters: antiseizure, derivatizes, graphitizes, keratinizes, literalizes, militarizes, parasitized, parasitizes, plasticizer, relativizes, restabilize, revitalizes, satirizable, stabilizers, trivializes. | |
+4 letters: detribalizes, erotizations, immortalizes, internalizes, materializes, miniaturizes, orientalizes, pasteurizing, plasticizers, rationalizes, realizations, reprivatizes, restabilized, restabilizes, romanticizes, sectarianize, spiritualize, strategizing, suberization, suzerainties, tranquilizes, tropicalizes. | |
+5 letters: acclimatizers, azathioprines, containerizes, creolizations, demilitarizes, dimerizations, editorializes, energizations, eternizations, etherizations, fiberizations, hebraizations, immortalizers, industrialize, isomerization, laterizations, materializers, memorizations, nationalizers, pictorializes, racemizations, rationalizers, recapitalizes, rehospitalize, remilitarizes, restabilizing, sectarianized, sectarianizes, serialization, spiritualized, spiritualizes, sterilization, suberizations, theorizations, thioridazines, tranquilizers, tranquillizes, transistorize, unparasitized, velarizations. | |
| 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. Quotations: Non-fiction | 5. Usage Frequency 6. Expressions: Internet 7. Translations: Modern 8. Derivations | 9. Rhymes 10. Anagrams 11. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
