sardonic - Definitions from Dictionary.com

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Webster's New Millennium™ Dictionary of English - Cite This Source - Share This

Main Entry:	sardonic
Part of Speech:	adj
Definition:	scornful, mocking; disdainfully humorous
Etymology:	Greek sardonios 'derisive'

Webster's New Millennium™ Dictionary of English, Preview Edition (v 0.9.7)
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sardonic

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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

sar·don·ic

Audio Help [sahr-don-ik] Pronunciation Key

–adjective

characterized by bitter or scornful derision; mocking; cynical; sneering: a sardonic grin.

[Origin: 1630–40; alter. of earlier sardonian (influenced by F sardonique) < L sardoni(us) (< Gk sardónios of Sardinia) + -an; alluding to a Sardinian plant which when eaten was supposed to produce convulsive laughter ending in death

]

—Related forms

sar·don·i·cal·ly, adverb

sar·don·i·cism, noun

—Synonyms biting, mordant, contemptuous.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

sar·don·ic Audio Help (sär-dŏn'ĭk) Pronunciation Key
adj. Scornfully or cynically mocking. See Synonyms at sarcastic.

[French sardonique, from Greek sardonios, alteration of sardanios.]

sar·don'i·cal·ly adv., sar·don'i·cism (-ĭ-sĭz'əm) n.

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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
sardonic

1638, from Fr. sardonique (16c.), from L. sardonius (but as if from L. *sardonicus) in Sardonius risus, loan-translation of Gk. sardonios (gelos) "of bitter or scornful (laughter)," altered from Homeric sardanios (of uncertain origin) by influence of Sardonios "Sardinian," because the Greeks believed that eating a certain plant they called sardonion (lit. "plant from Sardinia," see Sardinia) caused facial convulsions resembling those of sardonic laughter, usually followed by death. For nuances of usage, see humor.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

sardonic
adjective
disdainfully or ironically humorous; scornful and mocking; "his rebellion is the bitter, sardonic laughter of all great satirists"- Frank Schoenberner; "a wry pleasure to be...reminded of all that one is missing"- Irwin Edman

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Sardonic

Sar*don"ic\, a. [F. sardonique, L. sardonius, Gr. ?, ?, perhaps fr. ? to grin like a dog, or from a certain plant of Sardinia, Gr. ?, which was said to screw up the face of the eater.] Forced; unnatural; insincere; hence, derisive, mocking, malignant, or bitterly sarcastic; -- applied only to a laugh, smile, or some facial semblance of gayety.

Where strained, sardonic smiles are glozing still, And grief is forced to laugh against her will. --Sir H. Wotton.

The scornful, ferocious, sardonic grin of a bloody ruffian. --Burke.

Sardonic grin or laugh, an old medical term for a spasmodic affection of the muscles of the face, giving it an appearance of laughter.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Sardonic

Sar*don"ic\, a. Of, pertaining to, or resembling, a kind of linen made at Colchis.

Dictionary.com Word of the Day Archive - Cite This Source - Share This

sardonic

sardonic was Word of the Day on November 17, 1999.

Dictionary.com Word of the Day

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