Irony

How to spell irony

5 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce irony

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does irony mean?

1. nounThe expression of meaning by using language that signifies the opposite, or a situation whose result is the comic reverse of what was expected.

Irony in a sentence

• The irony of the new safety policy was that it caused more accidents.

• She noted the irony of a fire station burning down overnight.

Where does irony come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word comes from the ancient Greek eirōneia, which meant dissimulation or feigned ignorance, the deliberate pretence of knowing less than one really does. It was rooted in eirōn, a stock character in Greek comedy who understated himself and outwitted the boastful braggart by playing dumb. The Romans adopted the idea as the Latin ironia, and from there it travelled through French ironie into English in the sixteenth century. At first it kept the narrow rhetorical sense of saying one thing while meaning the opposite, but over time it broadened to cover situations whose outcome is the comic reverse of what was intended. Note that despite sounding like 'iron', the spelling has only a single r and ends in -ony, not -ery, which is the usual stumbling point for writers.

How the word is built

• iron- (from Greek eirōn: dissembler)
• -y (noun suffix forming a quality or state)