n. [ F. ridicule, L. ridiculum a jest, fr. ridiculus. See Ridiculous. ] 1. An object of sport or laughter; a laughingstock; a laughing matter. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ Marlborough ] was so miserably ignorant, that his deficiencies made him the ridicule of his contemporaries. Buckle. [ 1913 Webster ]

To the people . . . but a trifle, to the king but a ridicule. Foxe. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Remarks concerning a subject or a person designed to excite laughter with a degree of contempt; wit of that species which provokes contemptuous laughter; disparagement by making a person an object of laughter; banter; -- a term lighter than derision. [ 1913 Webster ]

We have in great measure restricted the meaning of ridicule, which would properly extend over whole region of the ridiculous, -- the laughable, -- and we have narrowed it so that in common usage it mostly corresponds to “derision”, which does indeed involve personal and offensive feelings. Hare. [ 1913 Webster ]

Safe from the bar, the pulpit, and the throne,
Yet touched and shamed by ridicule alone. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Quality of being ridiculous; ridiculousness. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

To see the ridicule of this practice. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Derision; banter; raillery; burlesque; mockery; irony; satire; sarcasm; gibe; jeer; sneer; ribbing. -- Ridicule, Derision, mockery, ribbing: All four words imply disapprobation; but ridicule and mockery may signify either good-natured opposition without manifest malice, or more maliciously, an attempt to humiliate. Derision is commonly bitter and scornful, and sometimes malignant. ribbing is almost always good-natured and fun-loving. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ F. ] Ridiculous. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

This action . . . became so ridicule. Aubrey. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Ridiculed p. pr. & vb. n. Ridiculing. ] To laugh at mockingly or disparagingly; to awaken ridicule toward or respecting. [ 1913 Webster ]

I 've known the young, who ridiculed his rage. Goldsmith. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- To deride; banter; rally; burlesque; mock; satirize; lampoon. See Deride. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who ridicules. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To make ridiculous; to ridicule. [ Obs. ] Chapman. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality or state of being ridiculous; ridiculousness; also, something ridiculous. [ Archaic ] Bailey. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. ridiculosus, ridiculus, fr. ridere to laigh. Cf. Risible. ] 1. Fitted to excite ridicule; absurd and laughable; unworthy of serious consideration; as, a ridiculous dress or behavior. [ 1913 Webster ]

Agricola, discerning that those little targets and unwieldy glaives ill pointed would soon become ridiculous against the thrust and close, commanded three Batavian cohorts . . . to draw up and come to handy strokes. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Involving or expressing ridicule. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

[ It ] provokes me to ridiculous smiling. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Ludicrous; laughable; risible; droll; comical; absurd; preposterous. See Ludicrous. [ 1913 Webster ]

--- Ri*dic"u*lous*ly, adv. -- Ri*dic"u*lous*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]