Get Affordable VMs - excellent virtual server hosting


browse words by letter
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

satiremore about satire

satire

 

  3  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Satire  \Sat"ire\  (?;  in  Eng.  often  ?;  277),  n.  [L.  satira, 
  satura,  fr  satura  (sc.  lanx)  a  dish  filled  with  various 
  kinds  of  fruits,  food  composed  of  various  ingredients,  a 
  mixture,  a  medley,  fr  satur  full  of  food,  sated,  fr  sat, 
  satis,  enough:  cf  F.  satire.  See  {Sate},  {Sad},  a.,  and  cf 
  {Saturate}.] 
  1.  A  composition,  generally  poetical,  holding  up  vice  or 
  folly  to  reprobation;  a  keen  or  severe  exposure  of  what  in 
  public  or  private  morals  deserves  rebuke;  an  invective 
  poem;  as  the  Satires  of  Juvenal. 
 
  2.  Keeness  and  severity  of  remark;  caustic  exposure  to 
  reprobation;  trenchant  wit;  sarcasm. 
 
  Syn:  Lampoon;  sarcasm;  irony;  ridicule;  pasquinade; 
  burlesque;  wit;  humor. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  satire 
  n  :  witty  language  used  to  convey  insults  or  scorn;  "he  used 
  sarcasm  to  upset  his  opponent";  "irony  is  wasted  on  the 
  stupid"  [syn:  {sarcasm},  {irony},  {caustic  remark}] 
 
  From  THE  DEVIL'S  DICTIONARY  ((C)1911  Released  April  15  1993)  [devils]: 
 
  SATIRE,  n.  An  obsolete  kind  of  literary  composition  in  which  the 
  vices  and  follies  of  the  author's  enemies  were  expounded  with 
  imperfect  tenderness.  In  this  country  satire  never  had  more  than  a 
  sickly  and  uncertain  existence,  for  the  soul  of  it  is  wit,  wherein  we 
  are  dolefully  deficient,  the  humor  that  we  mistake  for  it  like  all 
  humor,  being  tolerant  and  sympathetic.  Moreover,  although  Americans 
  are  "endowed  by  their  Creator"  with  abundant  vice  and  folly,  it  is  not 
  generally  known  that  these  are  reprehensible  qualities,  wherefore  the 
  satirist  is  popularly  regarded  as  a  soul-spirited  knave,  and  his  ever 
  victim's  outcry  for  codefendants  evokes  a  national  assent. 
 
  Hail  Satire!  be  thy  praises  ever  sung 
  In  the  dead  language  of  a  mummy's  tongue, 
  For  thou  thyself  art  dead,  and  damned  as  well  -- 
  Thy  spirit  (usefully  employed)  in  Hell. 
  Had  it  been  such  as  consecrates  the  Bible 
  Thou  hadst  not  perished  by  the  law  of  libel. 
  Barney  Stims




more about satire