1
as in insulting
intended to make a person or thing seem of little importance or value
a literary snob, she invariably used the derisory term "the boob tube" when referring to television
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2
as in ridiculous
so foolish or pointless as to be worthy of scornful laughter
the pawnbroker offered what I regarded as a derisory amount for the diamond ring
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Recent Examples of derisory
She was then remanded in a nunnery, given a derisory sentence — less than two years in jail — before being released with a presidential pardon.
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Stephanie Bunbury, Deadline, 23 Sep. 2024
The state media are full of derisory commentary about the alleged hypocrisy, decadence, and even blasphemy that is supposedly on display in Paris.
—Fred Weir, The Christian Science Monitor, 6 Aug. 2024
There, the National Weather Service calculated the average wind speed to be a derisory 1.8 mph.
—Martin Weil, Washington Post, 10 Dec. 2023
Often enough beautiful can be used as a derisory adjective in this context.
—Guy Trebay, New York Times, 24 Jan. 2023
But when people invest in their own solar panels and start producing electricity, the feed in tariff pays them back a derisory amount.
—Jemma Green, Forbes, 22 Apr. 2022
The contents of his elegant Tite Street home — roughly 2,000 books, all the furnishings, even the children’s toys — were sold at a bankruptcy auction for derisory sums.
—Washington Post, 13 Oct. 2021
There’s no escaping that the current ESG qualifications of most directors and executives is derisory, and mandatory disclosures would provide the stick to increase competency.
—Paul Polman, Fortune, 11 Apr. 2021
Arsenal are seemingly the latest club to have entered the Harry Maguire saga alongside Manchester United and Manchester City, only to make a derisory transfer enquiry for the Leicester and England centre back well below the Foxes' asking price.
—SI.com, 3 July 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for derisory
Adjective
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Joe Biden denounced offensive jokes that podcast host Tony Hinchcliffe made about Puerto Rico during Donald Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally over the weekend, but the president also made a comment some prominent Republicans quickly called insulting to the former president's supporters.Karissa Waddick, USA TODAY, 30 Oct. 2024
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No matter, the response was swift and harsh from the often insulting and foul-mouthed Trump and other Republicans.Dominic Patten, Deadline, 30 Oct. 2024
Adjective
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Art like Comedian acts as a reflection of society’s values, simultaneously serious and ridiculous.Natalie Stoclet, Forbes, 21 Nov. 2024
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So far every one of Trump’s nominations has been poor, but that of RFK Jr. is ridiculous.Letters To The Editor, The Mercury News, 20 Nov. 2024
Adjective
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After lightly chiding these gents for two movies, director Michael Winterbottom finally takes the knives out and begins to punish them, a decision that results in two late scenes that border on sociopathic and culminates in an unimaginably absurd ending that refuses to let Coogan off the hook.David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 19 Nov. 2024
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To envision European unity without the United States—as the authors attempt to do—is therefore absurd. SOCIAL CONSTRUCTS O’Brien and Stringer try to address, in a practical way, the hard security questions Europe would face if abandoned by Washington.Sumantra Maitra, Foreign Affairs, 4 Nov. 2024
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Yet feeling out of place has, ironically, brought Escola even closer to their Mary Todd Lincoln, whose fear that a scornful world might keep her offstage gives the show an unexpected pathos.Julian Lucas, The New Yorker, 2 Aug. 2024
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The president has outlined a deeply misguided foreign policy vision that is distrustful of U.S. allies, scornful of international institutions, and indifferent, if not downright hostile, to the liberal international order that the United States has sustained for nearly eight decades.Eliot A. Cohen, Foreign Affairs, 11 Dec. 2018
Adjective
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Lydia Tar’s lack of self-awareness only made the character funnier and more pathetic in her downfall.Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 15 Nov. 2024
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The upcoming sequel to This Is Spinal Tap will be turning the pathetic knobs all the way to 11.Wesley Stenzel, EW.com, 1 Nov. 2024
Adjective
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The curious tension between the president’s sympathetic rhetoric and his administration’s more hostile actions has increased the risk that a contemptuous and irritated Russia will poke back in eastern Europe.Eliot A. Cohen, Foreign Affairs, 20 Jan. 2018
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Critics have affixed to his output any number of adjectives meant to communicate its basic darkness: acerbic, malicious, cruel, contemptuous.Brandon Sanchez, Vulture, 25 Oct. 2024
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In this show, everyone has their distinct personalities — Reneé as Leighton is sassy and dry and Pauline as Kimberly is sweet and a little silly, for example.Lily Ford, The Hollywood Reporter, 22 Nov. 2024
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Here was this band of rebellious and silly kids in bright clothes rapping their asses off.Jeff Ihaza, Rolling Stone, 20 Nov. 2024
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This subsided with unusual speed, however, as cricket fans took instead to sharing the self-deprecatory jokes coming over the border.The Economist, The Economist, 22 June 2019
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Philipps has acquired her 1-million-and-growing Instagram followers through her self-deprecatory humor, raw honesty and vulnerability.Sonja Haller, USA TODAY, 11 July 2018
Thesaurus Entries Near derisory
Cite this Entry
“Derisory.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/derisory. Accessed 3 Dec. 2024.
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