satirical

Etymology

It is formed from English satiric + -al,^[2][3] the adjective satiric being from Late Latin satiricus (“of satire; a writer of satire”),^[4][2][5] from satira (“satire, poetic medley”).^[2][6][7] The OED and the Concise Oxford take satirical directly from the Latin adjective with the English suffix,^[4][5] and Merriam-Webster from Middle French satirique with the same suffix.^[8] The Latin noun is a variant of satura, from the phrase lanx satura (“a dish filled with various fruits”),^[2][8] the feminine of satur (“full of food, sated”);^[2][9][8] the American Heritage Dictionary thinks the form satira was influenced by Ancient Greek σάτυρος (sáturos, “satyr”).^[9] Etymonline traces satur to Proto-Indo-European *seh₂- (“to satisfy”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of or relating to a satire; writing satires: before 1529, in John Skelton's poems against Garnesche.^[4][10] Etymonline dates the word to the 1520s,^[2] and Dictionary.com to 1520–30.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The adjective came slightly later than satiric, which is recorded as an adjective from 1509 and, earlier still, as a noun meaning a satirist, from before 1387.^[4] From the literary sense, writing or using satire to expose folly and vice, satirical spread in 1589, in Robert Greene's Menaphon, to a sarcastically critical or mocking attitude in general.^[4][10] Gibbon could thus speak of a people's satirical wit.^[3]

Timeline

• before 1529 – of or relating to satire; writing satires.^[4][10]
• 1589 – sarcastically critical, mocking.^[4][10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of, relating to, or containing satire: a satirical cartoon about the new parking rules.^[11][4][3]
2. Given to using satire; mocking or sarcastic: He had a satirical streak that his colleagues learned to fear.^[11][4]

Word family

• satirically
• satiricalness
• nonsatirical
• semisatirical
• unsatirical

Related words

• satire
• satiric
• satirist
• satirize
• satiety
• saturate
• sad

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ a b c d Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
11. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins