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Sarcasm

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Legal, Idioms, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.01 sec.
Sarcasm 

a comic device, criticism expressed through scathing mockery. Sarcasm is the strongest form of irony. Although a sarcastic statement is formulated in positive terms, its negative meaning is immediately made apparent; other forms of irony preserve and develop the positive formulation, expressing criticism only by subtle implication. Sarcasm is always tendentious, merciless, and satirical; irony, when used for purposes of humor, is gentle and conciliatory. Unlike simple condemnation, sarcasm does not explicitly criticize but forces the reader himself to reassess the object of satire:

Molchalin! Who else can smooth things out so peacefully!
He knows just when to pet a pug,
And when to slip in a card.

(A. S. Griboedov, Woe From Wit)
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He never said a clever thing, but he had a vein of brutal sarcasm which was not ineffective, and he always said exactly what he thought.
Moon and Sixpence by Maugham, W. Somerset View in context
I read "English Bards and Scotch Reviewers," and I liked its vulgar music and its heavy-handed sarcasm.
My Literary Passions by Howells,William Dean View in context
Two months after marriage her husband abandoned her, and her impassioned protestations of affection he met with a sarcasm and even hostility that people knowing the count's good heart, and seeing no defects in the sentimental Lidia, were at loss to explain.
Anna Karenina by Tolstoy, Leo View in context
 
 
 
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