irony
165
4.1
- noun
- /ˈaɪrəni/
:
ironía
- The teacher used irony when she told the students that their late homework was a wonderful surprise.
- sense of irony
- irony and ambiguity
But I put that in my joke so the irony was obvious.
- But I put that in my joke so the irony was obvious.
- That you looked at this time is different, written with irony and in the very words themselves.
- And because he is, you know, he's got a great sense of humour and, and a great sense of irony particularly.
- World in comedy without irony, I think would be kind of empty and then kind of weird.
- I know without irony, for me, life would just not be worth living.
- That's Japan with no irony whatsoever.
- It's kind of like a little bit of light irony.
- But when you talk with French people, they love to, to go into irony, into the mood of irony.
Examples
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She said she hates musicals, but her comment was filled with irony when she started singing along.
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You must see the irony in that, senator.
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That you looked at this time is different, written with irony and in the very words themselves.
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And we live in an age of irony, so this can actually be a major issue for us.
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And the irony of everything you just said is that it's possible to process that as yet another should.
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- Do you not see the irony of it?
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So I appreciate the irony, Lord!
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I looked into his face for irony and could not decide whether I had found it.
Fiction book (1990) -
I think it's a sad irony that we are, as a world, obsessed with positive emotions.
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As a result, there is considerable irony in the movement's idealization of traditional images of women.
Academic text (1991)
Synonyms
The use of words that say the opposite of what you mean in speech or writing
Using a word to mean the opposite to make a joke or show irony
Antonyms
Compounds
- Literature
1
5.6
A situation where the audience knows something important that the characters do not know in a play or film
- Formal
Acting like you do not know while asking questions to show problems in someone's ideas
How Ironic
Surface Forms
Etymology
Irony comes from the Greek root eirein meaning 'to say' and the idea eironeia, which was about 'pretending not to know' so you could say the opposite. So when someone uses irony today, they often say one thing but mean another to be funny or to criticize.