Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A notable user of irony, especially a writer.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One who deals in irony.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun One who uses irony.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Someone who uses irony in humor.
  • noun philosophy A supporter of ironism.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a humorist who uses ridicule and irony and sarcasm

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

irony +‎ -ist

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Examples

  • The irony about the ironist is that, rhetorically, the metaphysician has the better game; so who’s the pragmatist, really?

    Matthew Yglesias » Richard Rorty 2007

  • And, after what feels like a somewhat dutiful slog through Juvenal, Swift, and Pope, you would expect Denby at least to be aware of the limitations imposed by the shriveled range of cultural reference within which the contemporary media "ironist" must operate.

    unknown title 2009

  • Usoltsev portrays him as an ambivalent ironist—modern in outlook, aware of the corrosion within the Soviet system, a little pedantically legalistic, even, at times, democratic in outlook, but careful to hide any incorrect attitudes in public and skilled at ingratiating himself with his superiors.

    The Return Daniel Treisman 2011

  • At the age of 48, and a celebrated actor as well as a dazzling filmmaker—I heard him described as the Chinese Marlon Brando—Mr. Jiang has the buoyancy of an absurdist, the edge of an ironist, the camouflaged instincts of a moralist and the limitless zest of an entertainer who, from the evidence on the screen, might feel as much of a kinship with Abbott and Costello as with Beckett or Buñuel.

    Bullets, Love and Beijing's Heavy Hand Joe Morgenstern 2011

  • And as befits an ironist like Austen, this book is less a “guide to good manners” than a literary companion disguised as Regency self-help manual.

    2009 July 19 « One-Minute Book Reviews 2009

  • The idea that English football deserves the World Cup can only be the work of an ironist.

    Shed no tears for Liverpool: our football needs deflating Martin Kettle 2010

  • As journalists, of course, we long have been accustomed to being smeared and assailed in a whorish manner for, as the ironist Pierce Thorne has noted:

    Meg Chair Pete Wilson Trashed ‘Whores’ in Congress bbb 2010

  • In manner he was a dapper ironist, soft-voiced and accepting of the curious turns that fate was inclined to take.

    We Shall Not See His Like Again Richard Schickel 2011

  • Mr. Pitt couples a star presence—there's a singular there there whenever the A's general manager is in camera range—to a beautifully measured ensemble performance that makes Billy a minimalist ironist, tossing off funny remarks with an abandon that almost conceals his deep anger, pain or self-doubt.

    'Moneyball': Stars, Stats and Perfect Pitch Joe Morgenstern 2011

  • Usoltsev portrays him as an ambivalent ironist—modern in outlook, aware of the corrosion within the Soviet system, a little pedantically legalistic, even, at times, democratic in outlook, but careful to hide any incorrect attitudes in public and skilled at ingratiating himself with his superiors.

    The Return Daniel Treisman 2011

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