ironize
Speak with sarcasm
To ironize is to speak or write with irony—saying something while meaning the opposite, or treating a subject with detached, knowing distance.
The word appears mostly in literary criticism and academic writing: The narrator ironizes the protagonist's naive optimism.
It can also mean to make something ironic or to regard it ironically.
Absence of moisture
- deadpanExpressionless, especially for humor
- quipBrief, clever remark
- banterPlayful, teasing exchange
- wordplayVerbal wit techniques
wry · slyness · cleverness · acerbity · trenchancy · snark · wisecrack · repartee
Separation or emotional uninvolvement
- distanceSpace between two points
- knowingPossessing awareness or insight
- skepticalInclined to question claims
- wryDryly mocking in tone
arch · raised eyebrow · self-aware · bemused · world-weary · dispassionate · cool · oblique
Harsh public mockery
- parodySatirical imitation
- caricatureExaggerated comic depiction
- mockScornful imitation or fake
- ridiculeContemptuous mocking treatment
skewer · critique · spoof · burlesque · travesty · send-up · pastiche · sardonic
Irony used to mock
- understatementIntentional diminishment for effect
- paradoxSeemingly absurd truth
- litotesUnderstatement via negation
- hyperboleRhetorical extreme exaggeration
antithesis · oxymoron · rhetorical question · allegory · metaphor · double meaning · inversion · contradiction
dryness
Absence of moisture
wordplay · wry · slyness · cleverness · acerbity · trenchancy · snark · wisecrack · repartee · tongue-in-cheek
detachment
Separation or emotional uninvolvement
- distanceSpace between two points
- knowingPossessing awareness or insight
- skepticalInclined to question claims
wry · arch · raised eyebrow · self-aware · bemused · world-weary · dispassionate · cool · oblique · indirect
lampoon
Harsh public mockery
- parodySatirical imitation
- caricatureExaggerated comic depiction
- mockScornful imitation or fake
ridicule · skewer · critique · spoof · burlesque · travesty · send-up · pastiche · sardonic · deride
sarcasm
Irony used to mock
- understatementIntentional diminishment for effect
- paradoxSeemingly absurd truth
- litotesUnderstatement via negation
hyperbole · antithesis · oxymoron · rhetorical question · allegory · metaphor · double meaning · inversion · contradiction · juxtaposition
- ironic twistContrary outcome with humor
- ironic toneExpression conveying opposite meaning
- ironic humorHumor through contradiction
- ironic detachmentEmotional distance via cynicism
- ironic expressionSpeech meaning its opposite
ironic, ironical, ironically, ironist, unironic, ironized, ironizing, ironizes, ironising