Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Satire |
SatireNoun1. 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 "satire" was first used: 1509. (references) |
Etymology: Satire \Sat"ire\, noun. [Latin expression satira, satura, from satura (sc. lanx) dish filled with various kinds of fruits, food composed of various ingredients, mixture, medley, from satur full of food, sated, from sat, satis, enough: compare to the French expression satire. See Sate, Sad, adjective, and compare to Saturate.]. (Websters 1913) |
| Domain | Definitions |
Satire | SATIRE, n. An obsolete kind of literary composition in which the vices and follies of the author's enemies were expounded with imperfect tenderness. In this country satire never had more than a sickly and uncertain existence, for the soul of it is wit, wherein we are dolefully deficient, the humor that we mistake for it, like all humor, being tolerant and sympathetic. Moreover, although Americans are "endowed by their Creator" with abundant vice and folly, it is not generally known that these are reprehensible qualities, wherefore the satirist is popularly regarded as a soul-spirited knave, and his ever victim's outcry for codefendants evokes a national assent. Hail Satire! be thy praises ever sung In the dead language of a mummy's tongue, For thou thyself art dead, and damned as well -- Thy spirit (usefully employed) in Hell. Had it been such as consecrates the Bible Thou hadst not perished by the law of libel. Barney Stims. Source: Devil's Dictionary. |
Literature | Satire (2 syl.). Scaliger's derivation of this word from satyr is untenable. It is from satura (full of variety), satura lanx a hotchpotch or olla podrida. As maxumus, optumus, etc., became maximus, optimus, so "satura" became satira. (See Dryden's Dedication prefixed to his Satires.) Father of satire. Archilochos of Paros (B.C. seventh century). Father of French satire. Mathurin Regnier (1573-1613). Father of Roman satire. Lucilius (B.C. 148-103). "Lucilius was the man who, bravely bold, To Roman vices did the mirror hold; Protected humble goodness from reproach, Showed worth on foot, and rascals in a coach." Dryden: Art of Poetry, c. ii. Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(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:
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."
| The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted. | |||
| Entry | Source | Expression | Field |
SATIRE | English | Semi-Automatic Information Retrieval System | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |||
Synonyms: SatireSynonyms: caustic remark (n), irony (n), sarcasm (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Disapprobation | Satire; sneer; (contempt); taunt; (disrespect); cavil, carping, censoriousness; hypercriticism; (fastidiousness). |
Ridicule | Squib, satire, skit, quip, quib, grin. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
| Domain | Usage | |
Movie/TV Titles | La Pipe satire (1969) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Music |
|
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Author | Quotation |
(Decimus Junius Juvenalis) Juvenal | It is difficult not to write satire. |
Alexander Pope | Praise undeserved, is satire in disguise. |
Lord Byron | Fools are my theme, let satire be my song. |
Voltaire | Satire lies about men of letters during their lives, and eulogy after their death. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Grapes of Wrath | Steinbeck, John | The driver glanced quickly at him, looking for satire. |
Walden | Thoreau, Henry David | Many an irksome noise, go a long way off, is heard as music, a proud, sweet satire on the meanness of our lives. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Satire" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 97.66% of the time. "Satire" is used about 171 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) | 97.66% | 167 | 24,143 |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 1.17% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Noun (proper) | 1.17% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Total | 100.00% | 171 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expression using "satire": the shafts of satire. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; 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 |
satire | 382 |
political satire | 56 |
news satire | 26 |
example of satire | 18 |
definition satire | 14 |
satire and parody | 11 |
satire of juvenile | 9 |
satire zelda | 9 |
satire and humor | 8 |
bush satire | 7 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "satire"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | satirë (lampoon, squib), tallje (banter, derision, dig, fleer, flout, gibe, gird, jeer, jesting, jibe, joke, mock, mockery, pleasantry, quiz, ridicule, scoff, sneer, snook, Snoot, spoof, sport, taunt, twit). (various references) | |
Arabic | هجاء (lampoon, spelling), تهكم (deride, flippancy, gibe, irony, jeer, mockery, persiflage, quip, ridicule, sarcasm, taunt), المقطوعة الهجائية. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | сатира (lampoonery, send up, skit). (various references) | |
Chinese | 讽刺 (ironical, sarcasm, sarcastic, Sarcastical, satiric, satirical), 諷刺 (irony). (various references) | |
Czech | satira (squib). (various references) | |
Dutch | spotdicht, schimpdicht, hekeldicht. (various references) | |
Esperanto | satira poemo. (various references) | |
Farsi | هزلیات , هجونامه , سخریه (Irony), طنز (Irony, Jeer, Quip, Scoff), طعنه (Irony, Jape, Jeer, Jest, Quip, Rail, Sarcasm, Scoff, Sikt, Taunt). (various references) | |
Finnish | satiiri, ivaruno. (various references) | |
French | satire (satirical, satirical poem). (various references) | |
German | Satire (skit), Spottschrift (lampoon). (various references) | |
Greek | σάτυρα (lampoon, squib). (various references) | |
Hebrew | ש י " (byword, mockery, taunt). (various references) | |
Hungarian | szatíra (squib), gúnyirat (lampoon, libel, Pasquinade, squib). (various references) | |
Indonesian | sindiran (allusion, backhanded, crank, quibble). (various references) | |
Irish | aoir. (various references) | |
Italian | satira (lampoon, Pasquinade, skit). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 風刺 . (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | ぎひょう (a model, caricature, cartoon, humorouscomments), ふうし (appearance, Confucius, demeanor, innuendo, irony, lampoon, sarcasm, term of address for a teacher, wind god). (various references) | |
Manx | skit (mockery), grinderys (sarcasm, sneer), craidoilys. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | atiresay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | sarcasmo (acidness, acridity, gibe, gird, irony, jibe, lash, sarcasm, sneer, taunt), sátira (irony, lampoon, skit, squib), ridículo (apish, awful, comic, comical, derisive, derisory, extravagantly, farcy, foolish, irony, laughing, ludicrousness, prepotency, quizzical, ragtime, ridicule, ridiculous, risible), ironia (a lot, banter, dig, irony, jerk). (various references) | |
Romanian | satirã (pasquinade, ridicule, skit, squib). (various references) | |
Russian | сатира. (various references) | |
Scottish | aoir (a satire, lampoon, sheet or bolt-rope of a sail). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | satira (lampoon, spoof). (various references) | |
Spanish | sátira (lampoon, send up, takeoff). (various references) | |
Swedish | satir. (various references) | |
Thai | การเหน็บแนม. (various references) | |
Turkish | yergi (lampoon, squib), taşlama (burlesque, epigram, lampoon, squib, stoning), hiciv (diatribe, irony, lampoon, pamphlet, squib, travesty). (various references) | |
Ukranian | сатира, сатиричний твір. (various references) | |
Vietnamese | lời chế nhạo văn châm biếm, lời châm biếm (quip). (various references) | |
Welsh | gwatwareg (irony, sarcasm), gogan (defamation), dychan.gerdd (satirical poem), dychan (lampoon). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | insaturabilia, satira, satura, saturam. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "satire": satires. (additional references) | |
| |
"Satire" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: astere, asture, catire, Katyrev, sabier, Sabiro, safire, sagire, Saire, Sairey, sairi, salire, saltoro, Santarem, sastire, sastri, sataire, satar, satara, satare, satere, satie, satier, satiire, satine, Satir, satira, satori, satren, satro, sattire, satur, satura, saturd, Saturdee, satyre, sautoir, Seafire, sentire, serite, sesterce, setier, Sitarem, staide, stire, stiree, stiri, stiro, swatir. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: airest, striae, terais. | |
| Words within the letters "a-e-i-r-s-t" | |
-1 letter: airts, arise, aster, astir, irate, raise, rates, retia, rites, serai, sitar, stair, stare, stria, tares, tarsi, tears, terai, tiers, tires, tries. | |
-2 letters: airs, airt, aits, ares, arse, arts, ates, ears, east, eats, eras, erst, etas, ires, rase, rate, rats, reis, rest, rets, rias, rise, rite, sari, sate, sati, sear, seat, sera, seta, sire, site, star, stir, tare, tars, tear, teas, tier, ties, tire, tsar. | |
-3 letters: air, ais, ait, are, ars, art, ate, ear, eat, era, ers, eta, ire, its, ras, rat, rei, res, ret, ria, sae, sat, sea, sei, ser, set, sir, sit, sri, tae, tar, tas, tea, tie, tis. | |
-4 letters: ae, ai, ar, as, at, er, es, et, is, it, re, si, ta, ti. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-e-i-r-s-t" | |
+1 letter: aeriest, aigrets, airiest, anestri, antsier, aridest, aristae, artiest, artiste, artsier, asteria, astride, atresia, attires, baiters, barites, cristae, diaster, disrate, fairest, gaiters, hastier, imarets, iratest, maestri, misrate, nastier, parties, pastier, piaster, piastre, pirates, raciest, ratines, ratites, realist, rebaits, retails, retains, retinas, retsina, saltier, saltire, satires, seagirt, seriate, slatier, smartie, stagier, staider, stainer, stearic, stearin, striate, tailers, tardies, tarries, tarsier, tastier, terbias, tirades, traipse, triages, vastier, veritas, waister, waiters, wariest, wastrie. | |
+2 letters: acridest, agrestic, airdates, airtimes, amirates, amortise, angriest, antisera, arbiters, arenites, ariettas, ariettes, aristate, arsenite, arteries, articles, artiness, artistes, artsiest, asperity, aspirate, assister, asterias, asterisk, asterism, asteroid, astringe, ateliers, atomiser, atresias, awaiters, azurites, banister, barkiest, barmiest, barniest, bestiary, birettas, blastier, brakiest, canister, ceramist, ceratins, chariest, cigarets, cisterna, citrates, craziest, creatins, crispate, cristate, dataries, detrains, diasters, dilaters, disaster, disrated, disrates, earliest, eateries, emeritas, emirates, entrails, entrains, ergastic, erratics, fainters, frailest, frigates, ganister, gantries, glariest, granites, grapiest, hairiest, hairnets, hardiest, hearties, hetairas, hoariest, hysteria, inearths, inertias, ingrates, intreats, iterates, jarosite, keratins, lamister, lardiest, larkiest, latrines, leariest, librates, literals, magister, marliest, marlites, marmites, matrices, matrixes, migrates, minarets, misalter, misrated, misrates, mistaker, mistrace, mistreat, muriates, nitrates, notaries, outraise, painters, pantries, parasite, paretics, parietes, parities, partiers, pastries, periapts, pertains, piasters, piastres, picrates, pilaster, pinaster, plaister, plaiters, practise, primates, pristane, privates, radiates, ragtimes, raiments, rainiest, rammiest, randiest, rangiest, rapidest, rarebits, rarities, raspiest, ratanies, ratifies, ratlines, rattiest, readiest, readmits, realists, realties, recitals, redbaits, redtails, repaints, resinate, restrain, retinals, retrains, retrials, retsinas, rotaries, ruinates, saltiers, saltires, sarkiest, satirise, satirize, sautoire, scantier, scariest, scattier, scimetar, seatrain, senorita, septaria, seriated, seriates, seriatim, sextarii, smarties, staggier, stainers, stalkier, starlike, starrier, steadier, steamier, stearine, stearins, sterical, sterigma, strained, strainer, straiten, straiter, strawier, striated, striates, suricate, sweatier, sybarite, tacrines, talliers, tardiest, tarriers, tarriest, tarsiers, taurines, tawdries, teariest, teratism, terrains, tertials, tertians, theriacs, thesauri, tinwares, titrates, toastier, trailers, trainees, trainers, traipsed, traipses, trashier, travoise, treaties, treatise, trenails, tribades, triphase, tristate, tristeza, uralites, uranites, urinates, variates, vestiary, viatores, vibrates, virgates, vitamers, votaries, waisters, waitress, wartiest, wartimes, wasterie, wastries, waterish, weariest, wiretaps, wisteria, yeastier. | |
+3 letters: abstainer, accredits, acierates, actuaries, admitters, adroitest, adversity, advertise, aerations, aerialist, aerolites, aeroliths, agentries, aigrettes, airstream, airstrike, allergist, ambiverts, amitroles, amortised, amortises, amortizes, animaters, ankerites, anointers, anoretics, antherids, antimeres, antipress, antiquers, antiserum, aperients, aperitifs, appetiser, aridities, armistice, arresting, arriviste, arsenites, artemisia, arterials, arteritis, artifices, ascertain, aspiratae, aspirated, aspirates, asserting, assertion, assertive, assisters, asterisks, asterisms, asteroids, astricted, astringed, astringes, ataraxies, atomisers, atomizers, atrazines, atrophies, atropines, attainers, aubretias, aubrietas, austerity, autarkies, auteurist, authorise, bacterias, bacterins, banisters, bannister, baptizers, baritones, barrister, batteries, beastlier, birrettas, bleariest, boracites, braggiest, brainiest, branniest, brashiest, brassiest, brattices, brattiest, braunites, brawliest, brawniest, breasting, brutalise, canisters, cannister, careerist, caritases, cartelise, catbriers, catteries, cauteries, centiares, ceramists, chantries, chapiters, charities, charriest, chastiser, cisternae, cisternal, clarinets, clarities, crabbiest, craftiest, craggiest, craniates, crankiest, crappiest, crawliest, creakiest, creamiest, creasiest, creatines, creations, croakiest, curatives, darkliest, derivates, detailers, detainers, deviators, diameters, diatribes, dicentras, dietaries, dipterans, disasters, dishwater, disparate, disparted, distraite, draffiest, draftiest, draggiest, dramatise, drawliest, dreamiest, dreariest, driftages, duratives, earthiest, earthrise, elaterids, elaterins, emigrants, emigrates, entailers, eradiates, eristical, esoterica, estimator, estradiol, estraying, estuarial, estuaries, estuarine, eupatrids, expiators, eyestrain, factories, favorites, feteritas, figeaters, filatures, filtrates, fireboats, firebrats, firetraps, forestial, frailties, freakiest, fruitages, ganisters, gannister, gauntries, gearshift, ghastlier, giftwares, glairiest, gnarliest, grabbiest, gradients, grainiest, graphites, grassiest, gratifies, gratinees, gravities, greasiest, grievants, hairstyle, hatterias, headfirst, heartiest, heartsick, herbalist, heritages, herniates, hesitater, horsetail, hysterias, idolaters, immatures, impacters, imparters, indurates, inflaters, ingathers, insectary, installer, instanter, instarred, integrals, interacts, interlaps, interlays, internals, intervals, intranets, invertase, irateness, irrigates, irritates, iterances, jarosites, karateist, keratitis, keratosis, laborites, lacertids, laetriles, lamisters, larcenist, laterites, laterizes, lazurites, levirates, liberates, ligatures, literates, literatus, litharges, livetraps, loricates, magisters, mannerist, marbliest, marcasite, marinates, marshiest, martinets, martyries, masteries, mastering, materials, materiels, mediators, metatarsi, midstream, misalters, miscreant, miscreate, mishanter, mislearnt, misparted, misrelate, mistakers, mistraced, mistraces, mistreats, navicerts, nearliest, nectaries, notarizes, obtainers, operatics, oralities, orangiest, oratories, oratrices, ordinates, orientals, osmeteria, ostiaries, ostracise, ostracize, outraised, outraises, paltriest, parakites, parasites, parietals, particles, patissier, patronise, pearliest, pearlites, perianths, periostea, peripatus, periplast, phratries, pilasters, pinasters, pistareen, plaisters, practices, practised, practises, pratiques, preadmits, preaudits, pretrains, pretrials, priorates, pristanes, privatest, privatise, psalteria, psaltries, quartiles, rabbiters, radicates, ratfishes, raticides, ratifiers, raucities, ravigotes, reactions, readdicts, realistic, realities, reanoints, reattains, rebaptism, recasting, registrar, reinstall, reinstate, relations, relatives, remittals, reobtains, repasting, requitals, reseating, resinated, resinates, resistant, reslating, restaging, restating, restrains, restraint, retailers, retailors, retainers, retasting, retiarius, retinulas, retirants, rhatanies, rolamites, royalties, ruminates, ruralites, rusticate, saintlier, saprolite, satirised, satirises, satirized, satirizes, satrapies, saturnine, sautoires, savoriest, sawtimber, scarriest, scenarist, scimetars, sclerotia, seatrains, sectarian, sectaries, sectorial, senhorita, senoritas, septarium, serialist, seriately, seriating, serotinal, serrating, serration, sestertia, sextarius, sidetrack, signature, smarmiest, smeariest, snarkiest, snarliest, snatchier, solitaire, sparkiest, sparriest, sparteine, spearmint, spermatia, spermatic, spermatid, squattier, staircase, stairwell, starchier, starriest, statelier, stationer, steadiers, stearines, sterigmas, sterilant, steroidal, stingaree, strainers, straitens, straitest, strategic, strawiest, streakier, streaking, streamier, streaming, strobilae, sugariest, suricates, sustainer, swarthier, sybarites, taborines, tailleurs, tailraces, tanneries, tardiness, tarnished, tarnishes, tawdriest, tearstain, teratisms, teriyakis, terminals, ternaries, terrapins, tessitura, testatrix, tetracids, theatrics, therapies, therapist, therapsid, theriacas, thioureas, thirlages, tidemarks, timecards, timesaver, topiaries, traceries, tracheids, trackside, tragedies, trailless, trailside, traitress, tramlines, transient, transited, transpire, trapesing, trapezist, trapezius, traplines, trashiest, travoises, treatises, treenails, triangles, triazines, triazoles, tribesman, trifectas, triplanes, triptanes, triskelia, tristezas, trivalves, truancies, turbaries, tyramines, tyrannies, tyrannise, unfairest, unwariest, urbanites, urticates, varietals, varieties, varsities, veratrias, veratrins, verbalist, veritates, versatile, verticals, vicarates, vintagers, violaters, vizirates, wasteries, wateriest, waterings, waterside, welfarist, wisterias, wrathiest, yahrzeits, ytterbias, zaratites. | |
| 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. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)53 61 74 69 72 65 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references)... .- - .. .-. . |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01010011 01100001 01110100 01101001 01110010 01100101 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)S a t i r e |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0053 0061 0074 0069 0072 0065 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)536786758471 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Quotations: Familiar 8. Quotations: Fiction | 9. Usage Frequency 10. Expressions 11. Expressions: Internet 12. Translations: Modern | 13. Translations: Ancient 14. Abbreviations 15. Acronyms 16. Derivations | 17. Anagrams 18. Orthography 19. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
