deride

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin dērīdeō (“to laugh to scorn, scoff at”),^{[2][3][4][5][6][7][8]} formed from dē- (“down”) and rīdeō (“to laugh”).^{[2][3][9][10]} Barnhart and Etymonline route the borrowing through Middle French derider,^[10][9] while the OED only compares Old French derire and the rare derider.^[2] Etymonline reports de Vaan's view that the Latin verb for "laugh" has no good etymology from Proto-Indo-European.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

To laugh at in contempt, to mock: 1530, in Palsgrave's French–English Lesclarcissement.^[2][10] Merriam-Webster Unabridged has about 1526,^[8] Etymonline the 1520s.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The sense has hardly changed since the 16th century.^[2][7] English already had derision, probably from about 1408, in Lydgate,^[10] and derisive followed before 1662.^[10] An intransitive use, to laugh scornfully, had a short life in the 17th century.^[2][7] Johnson (1755) defines the verb as "to laugh at; to mock; to turn to ridicule; to scorn", and quotes Hooker, Tillotson and Pope.^[11] The modern verb need not imply actual laughter: Collins's definition is to speak of or treat with contempt.^[4]

Timeline

• 1530 – to laugh at in contempt, to mock.^[2][10] Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates it to about 1526.^[8]
• mid 16th century – the noun derider.^[7]
• late 16th century – the adverb deridingly.^[7]
• 1619 – intransitive, to laugh scornfully (obsolete by 1674).^[2][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To treat or speak of with contempt; to mock or ridicule: Critics derided the novel as sentimental nonsense.^[4][8][2]
2. (obsolete, 1619–1674) To laugh scornfully, without an object.^[2][7]

Word family

• derider
• deridingly

Related words

• derision
• derisive
• ridicule
• ridiculous
• risible

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.