to make sport of
2
7.5
- phrasal verb
- Offensive
:
burlarse de
- Some of the others made sport of him for taking on sentry duty while they were still many days from the Nevan border, but he saw no reason not to establish a watchful routine early.
- make sport of the poor
Examples
-
Then how come everybody's always making sport of me?
-
You are making sport of me, Valerian, and I don't think that is very nice.
Fiction book (1991) -
I was making sport of you.
Blog text (3) -
"He was making sport of her."
Fiction book (2001) -
"Are you making sport of me?" he asks.
Fiction book (1999) -
Now you're making sport of me, Miss Manette.
-
They made sport of me, Kronos.
-
To make sport of a physical affliction is both impolite and cruel.
-
"Do not make sport of me, Valerian," she commanded testily.
Fiction book (1991) -
They love to make sport of his clumsiness during practice.
Synonyms
∞
3.5
To tease someone in a friendly, playful way
456
2.0
To make fun of someone in a mean way to show they are silly
307
2.3
Laugh at someone or say things that make them feel embarrassed
245
1.9
To make fun of someone in a way that annoys them
108
4.6
To make someone look silly in a mean way so others laugh at them
93
5.8
To mock someone again and again to make them angry or upset
80
2.9
Say something funny, often unkind, about someone or something
25
3.9
To make jokes about someone to make them look silly
23
3.4
To make jokes about someone, sometimes to be playful and sometimes to be unkind
21
6.7
To treat something as silly and show no respect
14
6.2
To laugh at someone and shout rude words to show you do not respect them
7
6.5
Make fun of someone in a friendly, playful way
5
5.2
To tease someone repeatedly in a friendly way
1
7.5
To joke or tease someone in a friendly way
1
7.2
To tease someone repeatedly, either playfully or cruelly
1
8.1
To tease someone in a playful way
1
9.1
To tease someone by making jokes about them in a friendly way
1
4.1
To tell someone something that is not true to make them laugh
1
9.0
To tease or nag someone, often in a playful way
Laugh at someone or treat something serious as a joke
Tease someone by making jokes about them
To tease someone by joking about them in a friendly way
To make fun of someone in a playful way
To tease or nag someone in a way that annoys them
Antonyms
How Mocking
- Offensive
414
6.1
- Offensive
108
4.6
- Offensive
209
3.4
- Offensive
2
7.5
245
1.9
Surface Forms
Morphology
The verb 'make' combined with the noun 'sport' (here meaning amusement or teasing) plus the preposition 'of' yields a straightforward compositional meaning: to create amusement at someone's expense. This follows the common English pattern (compare 'make fun of') and is likely inferable by a B1 learner who knows the constituents.
Etymology
The phrase make sport of comes from the older meaning of sport as 'play' or 'amusement'. People would treat someone like a game or a joke to make others laugh, so make sport of now means 'to mock' or tease someone.