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 Ridicule \Rid"i*cule\, n. [F. ridicule, L. ridiculum a jest, fr.
   ridiculus. See {Ridiculous}.]
   1. An object of sport or laughter; a laughingstock; a
      laughing matter.
      [1913 Webster]

            [Marlborough] was so miserably ignorant, that his
            deficiencies made him the ridicule of his
            contemporaries.                       --Buckle.
      [1913 Webster]

            To the people . . . but a trifle, to the king but a
            ridicule.                             --Foxe.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Remarks concerning a subject or a person designed to
      excite laughter with a degree of contempt; wit of that
      species which provokes contemptuous laughter;
      disparagement by making a person an object of laughter;
      banter; -- a term lighter than derision.
      [1913 Webster]

            We have in great measure restricted the meaning of
            ridicule, which would properly extend over whole
            region of the ridiculous, -- the laughable, -- and
            we have narrowed it so that in common usage it
            mostly corresponds to "derision", which does indeed
            involve personal and offensive feelings. --Hare.
      [1913 Webster]

            Safe from the bar, the pulpit, and the throne,
            Yet touched and shamed by ridicule alone. --Pope.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. Quality of being ridiculous; ridiculousness. [Obs.]
      [1913 Webster]

            To see the ridicule of this practice. --Addison.
      [1913 Webster]

   Syn: Derision; banter; raillery; burlesque; mockery; irony;
        satire; sarcasm; gibe; jeer; sneer; ribbing.

   Usage: {Ridicule}, {Derision}, {mockery}, {ribbing}: All four
          words imply disapprobation; but ridicule and mockery
          may signify either good-natured opposition without
          manifest malice, or more maliciously, an attempt to
          humiliate. Derision is commonly bitter and scornful,
          and sometimes malignant. {ribbing} is almost always
          good-natured and fun-loving.
          [1913 Webster]