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/ˈaɪrəni/ Listen

Irony

noun

Witty language used to convey insults or scorn. Synonyms: caustic remark, sarcasm, satire. "Irony is wasted on the stupid" , "Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own"

Incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs.

A trope that involves incongruity between what is expected and what occurs.

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dramatic irony

Socratic irony

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"Irony" Quotes from Famous Books

... before in their history, and the efficiency of the civil service reached its maximum. No other governor-general ever drew so heavily on his private means in promoting the public good, and it was the irony of fate that he should have been accused, by certain irresponsible anti-imperialists, of using his public office to promote his private interests. Near the end of his administration grossly and absurdly false charges ...

— The Philippines: Past and Present (vol. 1 of 2) • Dean C. Worcester

... Roger, half shocked. "No; I had a justice of the peace. I was the guest of honor," he went on, with a savage irony. "With good reason; it was I who ...

— With the Procession • Henry B. Fuller

... he contributed very largely to her growing up. The sight of his work and his methods; the occasional talks she overheard between him and his scientific comrades; the tones of irony and denial in the atmosphere about him; his antagonisms, his bitternesses, worked strongly upon her still plastic nature. Moreover she felt to her heart's core that he was unsuccessful; there were appointments he should have had, but had failed ...

— Helbeck of Bannisdale, Vol. I. • Mrs. Humphry Ward

... persons of authority and influence uttered with such terrible license. He attacked the gods, the politicians, the philosophers, and the poets of Athens; even private citizens did not escape from his shafts, and women were subjects of his irony. Socrates was made the butt of his ridicule, when most revered, and Cleon in the height of his power, and Euripides when he had gained the highest prizes. He has furnished jests for Rabelais, and hints to Swift, and humor for MoliEre. In satire, in derision, in ...

— The Old Roman World • John Lord

... effectively unsealed Sir Richmond's mind. Hitherto Dr. Martineau had perceived the possibility and danger of a defensive silence or of a still more defensive irony; but now that Sir Richmond had once given himself away, he seemed prepared to give himself away to an unlimited extent. He embarked upon an apologetic ...

— The Secret Places of the Heart • H. G. Wells

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