satires
Ironic social critiques
Satires are works that use humor, irony, or exaggeration to criticize human folly, vice, or institutions.
The form spans literature, film, television, and other media: Jonathan Swift wrote some of the sharpest satires in English.
Political satires mock governments and leaders; social satires target cultural norms and behaviors.
The term can also describe real situations that seem to parody themselves: The hearing devolved into a satire of democratic process.
Harsh public mockery
- parodySatirical imitation
- burlesqueExaggerated mockery or risqué variety
- caricatureExaggerated comic depiction
- spoofComic exaggerated imitation
pastiche · travesty · skit · send-up · takeoff · mockumentary · roast · sketch
Clever, inventive humor
- ironyMeaning opposite to words
- sarcasmIrony used to mock
- parodySatirical imitation
- absurdityWildly illogical quality
exaggeration · deadpan · banter · jest · quip · drollery · farce · buffoonery
Explanatory remarks on events
- ridiculeContemptuous mocking treatment
- mockeryScornful ridicule or travesty
- skeweringPiercing with a pointed rod
- exposéInvestigative journalism piece
dissection · indictment · rebuke · denunciation · censure · attack · barb · jab
- CandideNaively optimistic person
- 1984Dystopian surveillance state tale
- Catch-22Self-defeating logical trap
- TartuffeBaroque comedy of imposture
Idiocracy · SNL · Colbert · Swift · Voltaire · Aristophanes · Horace
Governmental power struggles
- corruptionDishonest abuse of power
- hypocrisyPretense of virtue
- greedExcessive desire for wealth
- vanityExcessive pride in oneself
religion · media · celebrity · bureaucracy · consumerism · war · class · power
lampoon
Harsh public mockery
- parodySatirical imitation
- burlesqueExaggerated mockery or risqué variety
- caricatureExaggerated comic depiction
spoof · pastiche · travesty · skit · send-up · takeoff · mockumentary · roast · sketch · impersonation
wit
Clever, inventive humor
absurdity · exaggeration · deadpan · banter · jest · quip · drollery · farce · buffoonery · hyperbole
commentary
Explanatory remarks on events
- ridiculeContemptuous mocking treatment
- mockeryScornful ridicule or travesty
- skeweringPiercing with a pointed rod
exposé · dissection · indictment · rebuke · denunciation · censure · attack · barb · jab · broadside
Gulliver
- CandideNaively optimistic person
- 1984Dystopian surveillance state tale
- Catch-22Self-defeating logical trap
Idiocracy · Tartuffe · SNL · Colbert · Swift · Voltaire · Aristophanes · Horace
politics
Governmental power struggles
- corruptionDishonest abuse of power
- hypocrisyPretense of virtue
- greedExcessive desire for wealth
vanity · religion · media · celebrity · bureaucracy · consumerism · war · class · power · propaganda
- Early English VerseChaucer, Spenser, Milton, Shakespeare, Donne
- Byzantine textshagiographies, hagiography, homilies, histories, historiography
- literaturebooks, book, fiction, poetry, stories
- writingsessay, essays, article, articles, stories
- Latin LiteratureCicero, Virgil, Ovid, Horace, Caesar
- poetry termspoetry, rhyme, verse, rhythm, meter
satirespanegyrics
Elaborate public eulogies
encomiums · tributes · eulogies · homages · laudations
satiresodes
Laudatory lyric verses
hagiographies · tragedies · epics · elegies · hymns
satireshagiographies
Idealizing biographical accounts
idealizations · glorifications · veneration · apologies · defenses
- satirical cartoonsHumorous art criticizing society
- political satireMockery of government
- satirical comedyHumor exposing folly
- biting satireHarsh, pointed social mockery
- news satireHumorous mock reporting
- satirical novelFiction mocking through irony
satire, satirical, satirize, satiric, satirist, satirizer, satirized, satirizes, satirically