From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishridiculerid‧i‧cule1 /ˈrɪdəkjuːl/ noun [uncountable] MAKE FUN OFunkind laughter or remarks that are intended to make someone or something seem stupid the ridicule of his peers The government’s proposals were held up to ridicule (=suffered ridicule) by opposition ministers. He had become an object of ridicule among the other teachers.
Examples from the Corpus
ridicule• Even when such claims evoked skepticism and ridicule, both the sick and the curious continued to come.• Often they fear ridicule or a rebuttal.• His looks, his temperament, his background - even his name marked him off for ridicule.• Willie just cries out for ridicule, don't you think?• Unfortunately Piggy had been demoted to an object of ridicule by this point in the book so nobody listened to him.• He criticized comedy because it was based on ridicule.• Months of pampering and the ridicule of my cousins had turned me inward.• If a child lives with ridicule, he learns to be shy.object of ridicule• He left Downing Street in 1963 almost an object of ridicule, condemned in Gibbonian terms as the symbol of national decay.• Yet he is held up as an object of ridicule and loathing throughout the land.• She became an object of ridicule.• Unfortunately Piggy had been demoted to an object of ridicule by this point in the book so nobody listened to him.• It had not escaped Cecilia's notice that to many people, even today, old women are objects of ridicule.• If the cucullati could be depicted as objects of ridicule, other religious images could have suffered too.• The only safe object of ridicule was Inspector Fowler.ridiculeridicule2 verb [transitive] MAKE FUN OFto laugh at a person, idea etc and say that they are stupid SYN mock At the time, his ideas were ridiculed.→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
ridicule• Joseph was ridiculed for being serious.• For a number of years she patiently withstood the abuse of her employers and fellow workers, who ridiculed her religious habits.• He felt so ashamed of his weakness, but George didn't ridicule him at all.• For decades, consultants, politicians, pilots and travelers have ridiculed Lindbergh Field.• Their fellow church members 73 ridiculed, shunned, or expelled them-sometimes all three.• Avoid insulting or ridiculing teenagers' efforts to be differ-ent.• Petrocelli ridiculed the police conspiracy theory.• Given the numbers of the disadvantaged, critics of Treasury ridicule the whole proposal.Origin ridicule1 (1600-1700) French Latin ridiculum “something funny”, from ridere “to laugh” 