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sardonic - 6 dictionary results

sar⋅don⋅ic

[sahr-don-ik]
–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


sar⋅don⋅i⋅cal⋅ly, adverb
sar⋅don⋅i⋅cism, noun


biting, mordant, contemptuous.
sar·don·ic   (sär-dŏn'ĭk)   
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.
Main Entry:  sardonic
Part of Speech:  adj
Definition:  scornful, mocking; disdainfully humorous
Etymology:  Greek sardonios 'derisive'

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.

Sardonic

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

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.
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