From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishironici‧ron‧ic /aɪˈrɒnɪk $ aɪˈrɑː-/ ●○○ (also ironical /-ɪkəl/) adjective 1 STRANGEan ironic situation is one that is unusual or amusing because something strange happens, or the opposite of what is expected happens or is true Your car was stolen at the police station! How ironic! It’s ironic that her husband smoked for thirty years, and yet she’s the one who died of lung cancer. In an ironic twist, the most trustworthy character in the film turned out to be the thief.2 FUNNYusing words that are the opposite of what you really mean, often in a joking way ironic comments When I told Lucy I loved her book, she thought I was being ironic. → sarcastic
Examples from the Corpus
ironic• His photographs are complex and sometimes ironic.• The dying planet has a metaphysical relationship to my own mortality and to that extent my inquiry into landscape is inherently ironic.• Her car was stolen from outside the police station, which is pretty ironic.• The tone is that of the narrator, ironic and sad - yet the novel does contain some successful humour.• One of the study's ironic discoveries is that TV trials educate the public about the justice system better than actual trials.• This situation has many ironic effects.• "I've heard that Dan's really upset about the divorce." "How ironic. He was always the one who was against them getting married in the first place."• Auster leaned back on the sofa, smiled with a certain ironic pleasure, and lit a cigarette.• No one he knew had figured out how he could drink this way, with ironic restraint.• It was an ironic situation, the two men in her life meeting like that.• It's ironic that professional athletes are often such unhealthy people.• It's ironic that the most important people in the country often have so little understanding of how ordinary people live.• In a strange and ironic way, many Americans profited from the war.• Dara does most of the talking, in her histrionic, italicized, ironic way.• In fact, it accentuates the lavishly comic-book style and ironic wit of the whole film.an ironic twist• And in an ironic twist, the Author is played by the same actor as the old farmer.• In an ironic twist, this time humans will tackle an 8K run or 2-mile walk. 