Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Scornfully or cynically mocking. See Synonyms at sarcastic.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Apparently but not really proceeding from gaiety; forced: said of a laugh or smile.
- Bitterly ironical; sarcastic; derisive and malignant; sneering: now the usual meaning.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Forced; unnatural; insincere; hence, derisive, mocking, malignant, or bitterly sarcastic; -- applied only to a laugh, smile, or some facial semblance of gayety.
- adj. Of, pertaining to, or resembling, a kind of linen made at Colchis.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. disdainfully or ironically humorous; scornful and mocking
Etymologies
- French sardonique, from Greek sardonios, alteration of sardanios.
Examples
“Leaning up against her wall, his arms and ankles crossed, his expression sardonic.”
“Glen Reynolds is characterized as being merely "sardonic" --- Atrios is something else, Kutz doesn't say what, apparently wanting to spare our innocent eyes from the beating the author gives him.”
“Let’s see, I think reckless/hot-tempered/sardonic is a little too much negativity.”
Superhero Nation: how to write superhero novels and comic books » Yogi’s Review Forum
“#54 – TP, any color will do — any color except one chosen by sardonic, that is.”
“I was going more for "sardonic" rather than "sarcastic" but Geoff's mini-fisking tells me I was on the money as a plausible-sounding leftist.”
"He looked so cute with his purple skin and bright yellow hair."
“Three bucks is cheap for the kind of sardonic barks of laughter this little book wrung from my chest.”
“For instance, one could easily pick this post from the delightfully "sardonic" Instapundit and find that he is just a tad angrier than one might assume from his usual "heh" and "indeed.”
“I call my sardonic best friend my #1 gillfriend.”
“Ambrose Bierce, one of the lone wolves of American letters, was a San Francisco journalist, a sardonic lexicographer, and the author of jarring, brilliant and gruesomely unsentimental stories of the Civil War.”
“She later wrote a cathartic hit song with the sardonic title Thank You to show that surviving domestic violence had made her stronger in the long run.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘sardonic’.
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4084 more...
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#faveword
Words chosen as favorites for the Twitter hashtag #faveword.
autumnal, grotto, chiaroscuro, sfumato, homunculus, zing, zest, effervescent, bewitch, avuncular, susurrus, Styrofoam and 205 more...
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Words build meanings from origins( etymology )
These come from gamma meditation ,I think.
discursive, exogenous, machinations, purportedly, sumptuous, congruity, cantankerous, incongruous, festoon, hessian, ratiocinative, stratigraphic and 544 more...
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Emotions
affection, longing, cheerfulness, pride, optimism, relief, success, suprise, irritation, rage, hope, love and 29 more...
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In provocation
When exasperated, vexed or distressed.
bunkum, pananxiety, hokum, odor of sanctity, facade of strength, bumpkin, sardonic, Philistine, Vandal, dilettante, acerbic, acrid and 11 more...
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Words to make you sound smart
duality, hence, inference, deduce, juxtapose, mundane, gregarious, plight, esoteric, austere, encompass, subsidize and 17 more...
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Oblivion
By David Foster Wallace
ossify, reverie, hypergeometric, emetic, mien, cruciform, accreted, perpend, rheostat, predilections, coccyx, hirsute and 178 more...
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conflation
wherewithal, wan, zoonotic, zoonosis, nebulous, nefarious, nascent, quiescent, quell, undercroft, unwitting, unutterable and 513 more...
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litigious semantics
ad unguem, abeyance, choleric, contentious, curmudgeonly, churlish, dictatorial, vindictive, dogmatic, truculent, mutinous, refractory and 219 more...
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tranquill's Words
loquacious, unmitigated, trundle, ephemeral, vociferous, trapezoidal, liminal, obsequious, veracity, squash, onomatopoeia, oscillate and 261 more...
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random
words I read but don't know
nascent, proxy, desultory, charlatan, churlish, emaciated, gaudy, shill, lurid, frisson, marauding, plunder and 610 more...
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Words of emotion
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Out of Book Words
commiserate, equanimity, dulcet, cursory, diffident, profligate, egregious, precocious, dissemble, aggregate, efficacy, ingenuous and 100 more...
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play words
words for a play
pert, vicissitude, melancholy, vexation, gaud, attestation, renunciation, wax, wrought, sunder, antipodes, reckoning and 206 more...
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Of Interest
quixotic, paroxysm, vernacular, whelm, lucubrate, sardonic, virose, belletristic, candor, penury, nocuous, crepuscular and 19 more...
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Nov 30, 2011
There seem to be many words which lack a complete complement of forms. Sardonic is one of them. I cannot say "I am tired of your sardony" in a manner similar to how I can say "I am tired of your anger". Instead I must always attach a noun or verb to the adjective or adverb. Is there a name for these kinds of imperfect or irregular words? As a class, do they derive particularly from any linguistic river that has contributed to English? Should there not be a word 'sardony'? Jul 22, 2009
Harsh derision or irony: a sharp ironical taunt; sneering or cutting remark, usually intended to wound.
Sardonic:
Bitter derision, usually ironic: intended to be humorous.
Difference: Sardonic and Sarcastic
Sarcasm is more general than sardonicism. It can be humorous (at the cost of others), acidic, dry, or similar. To tell the 'type' of sarcasm, you must know the context.
Sardonicism implies a negative view of something. It's sarcasm with an ill tone, even if it's used for humour. Someone can use sardonicism but it's obvious that he isn't too comfortable with subject. Jul 13, 2009
Jim Morrison Oct 13, 2007