ironic

adjective

Simple meaning

Done in an insincere and mocking way.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

eyerahnik

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice

IPA pronunciation (US)

aɪˈɹɑnɪk

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adjective

of a situation
Characterized by or constituting (any kind of) irony.
of a statementactionetc.
Done in an insincere and mocking manner; satirical.
preceded with "being"
Acting in an unserious and teasing manner.
proscribed
Odd or coincidental; strange.

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: (of a situation) Characterized by or constituting (any kind of) irony.

Used this way, ironic is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone: Neutral
Formality: Neutral
Intensity: Not strongly marked
How common: Moderately common
Connotation: No strong connotation
Usage feel: Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

somewhat ironicironic commentironic toneironic contrastironic distancerather ironicironic commentaryironic effect

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

ironynounDerived noun
Witty language used to convey insults or scorn.
ironicallyadverbDerived adverb
Contrary to plan or expectation.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: characterized by or constituting (any kind of) irony

ironical

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Related Learning

Guides that use this word in context.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.