Library / English Dictionary

MOCK

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of mocking or ridiculing

Example:

they made a mock of him

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("mock" is a kind of...):

derision; ridicule (the act of deriding or treating with contempt)

Derivation:

mock (imitate with mockery and derision)

 II. (adjective) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Constituting a copy or imitation of something

Example:

boys in mock battle

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

counterfeit; imitative (not genuine; imitating something superior)

 III. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Treat with contempt

Example:

The new constitution mocks all democratic principles

Synonyms:

bemock; mock

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "mock" is one way to...):

do by; handle; treat (interact in a certain way)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "mock"):

bait; cod; rag; rally; razz; ride; tantalise; tantalize; taunt; tease; twit (harass with persistent criticism or carping)

blackguard; guy; jest at; laugh at; make fun; poke fun; rib; ridicule; roast (subject to laughter or ridicule)

deride (treat or speak of with contempt)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Derivation:

mocker (someone who jeers or mocks or treats something with contempt or calls out in derision)

mockery (showing your contempt by derision)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Imitate with mockery and derision

Example:

The children mocked their handicapped classmate

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "mock" is one way to...):

copy; imitate; simulate (reproduce someone's behavior or looks)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "mock"):

ape; caricature (represent in or produce a caricature of)

impersonate (represent another person with comic intentions)

burlesque; parody; spoof (make a parody of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Derivation:

mock (the act of mocking or ridiculing)

mocker (someone who jeers or mocks or treats something with contempt or calls out in derision)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Fuzzy little black-velvet monkeys, with snow-white teeth and gleaming, mocking eyes, chattered at us as we passed.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Williamson, the ex-clergyman, bowed to us with mock politeness, and the bully, Woodley, advanced with a shout of brutal and exultant laughter.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Not that I am vain of it, now, you mocking boy, she says, when I smile; but because you used to say you thought it so beautiful; and because, when I first began to think about you, I used to peep in the glass, and wonder whether you would like very much to have a lock of it.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

As Laurie spoke, he delivered a brown paper parcel to Meg, pulled Beth's hair ribbon, stared at Jo's big pinafore, and fell into an attitude of mock rapture before Amy, then shook hands all round, and everyone began to talk.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

As soon as they got into order they divided into two parties, performed mock skirmishes, discharged blunt arrows, drew their swords, fled and pursued, attacked and retired, and in short discovered the best military discipline I ever beheld.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Miss Bates, deceived by the mock ceremony of her manner, did not immediately catch her meaning; but, when it burst on her, it could not anger, though a slight blush shewed that it could pain her.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

To his sombre and cynical spirit all popular applause was always abhorrent, and nothing amused him more at the end of a successful case than to hand over the actual exposure to some orthodox official, and to listen with a mocking smile to the general chorus of misplaced congratulation.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He laughed one of his horrible mocking laughs.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

They have acquired new and almost unlimited powers; they can command the thunders of heaven, mimic the earthquake, and even mock the invisible world with its own shadows.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

And Miss Ingram had looked down at her with a mocking air, and exclaimed, "Oh, what a little puppet!"

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)