satire
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Satire
English
Etymology
From Middle French satire, from Old French, from Latin satira, from earlier satura, from lanx satura (“full dish”), from feminine of satur. Altered in Latin by influence of Ancient Greek σάτυρος (sáturos, “satyr”), on the mistaken notion that the form is related to the Greek σατυρικόν δράμα (saturikón dráma, “satyr drama”).
Pronunciation
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈsætaɪɹ/
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈsætaɪə/
Audio (US): (file) - Hyphenation: sat‧ire
- Rhymes: -aɪə(ɹ)
Noun
satire (countable and uncountable, plural satires)
- (uncountable) A literary device of writing or art which principally ridicules its subject often as an intended means of provoking or preventing change or highlighting a shortcoming in the work of another. Imitation, humor, irony, and exaggeration are often used to aid this.
- 2003, Roy Porter, Flesh in the Age of Reason, Ch.9, at p.148:
- Satire deflates and debases. It is an art which topples greatness, undermines pretension and punishes pride by revealing the low in the pretendedly high, the filth in the pure, the folly in reason. This belittling trick deploys telescopic lenses which picture the human as lesser and lower, or as a machine or beast, driven by depraved desires. Satire reduces what purports to be subtly superior to a repertoire of stigmatizing symbols and cardboard cut-outs, turning character into caricature, signalled by exaggerated physiognomical distortions - the huge nose, gaping mouth and bloated belly, or comparable animalistic traits. In this humbling of the complex into the simplistic, satire finally reduces the mind, soul or spirit to that flesh which always bespeaks inferiority on the Chain of Being.
- 2003, Roy Porter, Flesh in the Age of Reason, Ch.9, at p.148:
- (countable) A satirical work.
- a stinging satire of American politics.
- (uncountable, dated) Severity of remark.
- 1898, George Bernard Shaw, Caesar and Cleopatra:
- CAESAR. No, by the gods! would that it had been! Vengeance at least is human. No, I say: those severed right hands, and the brave Vercingetorix basely strangled in a vault beneath the Capitol, were (with shuddering satire) a wise severity, a necessary protection to the commonwealth, a duty of statesmanship—follies and fictions ten times bloodier than honest vengeance!
Usage notes
Often confused with parody, which does not necessarily have an element of social change.
Derived terms
Translations
literary technique
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Further reading
- “satire”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “satire”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
Anagrams
Danish
Pronunciation
Noun
satire c (singular definite satiren, plural indefinite satirer)
Inflection
| common gender |
singular | plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| indefinite | definite | indefinite | definite | |
| nominative | satire | satiren | satirer | satirerne |
| genitive | satires | satirens | satirers | satirernes |
Related terms
Further reading
satire on the Danish Wikipedia.Wikipedia da
Dutch
Etymology
Borrowed from French satire, German Satire or Latin satira, from Latin satur but influenced by Ancient Greek σάτυρος (sáturos).
Pronunciation
Noun
satire f (plural satires or satiren)
- a satire
Derived terms
Related terms
French
Etymology
From Middle French satire, from Old French, from Latin satira, from earlier satura.
Pronunciation
Audio: (file)
Noun
satire f (plural satires)
Further reading
- “satire”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Italian
Noun
satire f
Anagrams
Norwegian Bokmål
Etymology
Noun
satire m (definite singular satiren, indefinite plural satirer, definite plural satirene)
Derived terms
References
- “satire” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
Norwegian Nynorsk
Etymology
Noun
satire m (definite singular satiren, indefinite plural satirar, definite plural satirane)
Derived terms
References
- “satire” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
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