Mockery

How to spell mockery

7 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce mockery

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does mockery mean?

1. nounTeasing, scornful, or contemptuous ridicule directed at someone or something.
2. nounA hollow, absurd, or insultingly poor version of something serious.

Mockery in a sentence

• His clumsy speech drew open mockery from the audience.

• The rushed hearing was a complete mockery of justice.

• The comedian built his whole act around gentle mockery of office life.

• Critics called the cheap remake a mockery of the original film.

Where does mockery come from?

Language of origin: French

This word reaches English through Old French, where the verb mocquer meant 'to deride' or 'to make fun of', and the related noun mocquerie described the act of jeering. English borrowed the verb 'mock' in the late 1300s and the abstract noun 'mockery' shortly after, attaching the familiar French noun ending that English absorbed as '-ery', the same ending seen in words like bravery and slavery. The precise source of the original French mocquer is uncertain, with some suggesting it imitated the sound of a snorting, scornful laugh, so the trail goes cold before Latin. Over time 'mockery' broadened from plain ridicule to also mean a hollow, absurd version of something, as in calling a botched trial 'a mockery of justice'. The spelling trap is the unstressed second half: the '-ery' ending sounds like a vague 'uh-ree', tempting writers toward '-ary' or '-ory'.

How the word is built

• mock (to ridicule, from Old French mocquer)
• -ery (noun suffix forming an action or condition)