Ironic definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary

ironic in American English · 1. meaning the contrary of what is expressed · 2. using, or given to the use of, irony · 3. having the quality of irony; directly ... EnglishDictionary Thesaurus WordLists Grammar EnglishEasyLearningGrammar GrammarPatterns EnglishUsage TeachingResources VideoGuides Conjugations Sentences Quiz Englishgrammar Englishcollocations Englishconfusables Englishidioms Englishusage Thematicwordlists English French German Italian Spanish Portuguese Hindi Chinese Korean Definitionof 'ironic'    WordFrequency Share× Credits× ironic (aɪrɒnɪk )orironical(aɪrɒnɪkəl ) 1. adjective Whenyoumakeanironicremark,yousaysomethingthatyoudonotmean,asajoke. Atthemostsolemnmomentshewillflashamockingsmileormakeanironicremark. PeopleusedtocallmeMrPopularityathighschool,buttheywerebeingironic. Synonyms:sarcastic,dry,sharp,acid MoreSynonymsofironic 2. adjective Ifyousaythatitisironicthatsomethingshouldhappen,youmeanthatitisoddoramusingbecauseitinvolvesacontrast. Ifinditironicthatafterallthemotorbikeaccidentshehashad,heshould,in theend,dieinhisbed. Synonyms:paradoxical,absurd,contradictory,puzzling MoreSynonymsofironic COBUILDAdvancedEnglishDictionary.Copyright©HarperCollinsPublishers Video:pronunciationof ironic Youmayalsolike EnglishQuizConfusables Synonymsof'ironic' LanguageLover'sBlog FrenchTranslationof'ironic' Translateyourtext PronunciationPlaylists Wordoftheday:'Chunjie' HindiTranslationof'ironic' NEWfromCollins! EnglishGrammar CollinsApps WordFrequency ironicinBritishEnglish (aɪˈrɒnɪk )orironical adjectiveof,characterizedby,orusingirony CollinsEnglishDictionary.Copyright©HarperCollinsPublishers Derivedformsironicalness(iˈronicalness)noun WordFrequency ironicinAmericanEnglish (aɪˈrɑnɪk ) adjective1.  meaningthecontraryofwhatisexpressed 2.  using,orgiventotheuseof,irony 3.  havingthequalityofirony;directlyoppositetowhatisormightbeexpected 4.  markedbycoincidenceorbyacuriousorstrikingjuxtapositionofevents regardedbymanyasalooseusage AlsoiˈronicalSIMILARWORDS: sarˈcastic Webster’sNewWorldCollegeDictionary,4thEdition.Copyright©2010by HoughtonMifflinHarcourt.Allrightsreserved. Derivedformsironically(iˈronically) adverb WordFrequency ironicinAmericanEnglish (aiˈrɑnɪk) adjective1. containingorexemplifyingirony anironicnovel anironicremark 2. ironical 3. coincidental;unexpected ItwasironicthatIwasseatednexttomyex-husbandatthedinner Mostmaterial©2005,1997,1991byPenguinRandomHouseLLC.Modifiedentries©2019 byPenguinRandomHouseLLCandHarperCollinsPublishersLtd Wordorigin[1620–30;‹LLīrōnicus‹Gkeirōnikósdissembling,insincere.Seeirony1,-ic] Examplesof'ironic'inasentence ironic Theseexampleshavebeenautomaticallyselectedandmaycontainsensitivecontent.Readmore… Itwassomewhatironicthatthecrowdwasunderwhelmed.Times,SundayTimes(2010)Itseemsironicthatthegolfcliquealwaysclaimstheirsisapropersport.Times,SundayTimes(2008)Thejauntydancemusicisdeeplyironic.Times,SundayTimes(2015)Therewereironiccheerswhenthechequeredflagwaswavedwithoutasinglecaronthetrack.TheSun(2016)Istherenotsomethingvaguelyironicaboutthis?Times,SundayTimes(2012)Therewereacoupleofironiccheerswhentheyhadashotbutitwasmeantinthebestpossibleway.TheSun(2013)Soit'squiteironiche'sherewithusgettingreadytoplayagainstthem.TheSun(2015)Thepresent-dayreputationofLeviathanissomewhatironic.TheTimesLiterarySupplement(2013) COBUILDCollocations ironic  ironicjoke ironicstatement ironictone ironictwist sadlyironic somewhatironic Trendsof ironic Viewusagefor: AllYears Last10years Last50years Last100years Last300years Inotherlanguages ironic BritishEnglish:ironic /aɪˈrɒnɪk/ADJECTIVEWhenyoumakeanironicremark,yousaysomethingthatyoudonotmean,asajoke.PeopleusedtocallmeMrPopularityatsecondaryschool,buttheywerebeingironic.AmericanEnglish:ironic /aɪˈrɒnɪk,aɪˈrɒnɪkəl/Arabic:تَهَكُّمِيٌّ BrazilianPortuguese:irônico Chinese:讽刺的 Croatian:ironičan Czech:ironický Danish:ironisk Dutch:ironisch EuropeanSpanish:irónico Finnish:ironinen French:ironique German:ironisch Greek:ειρωνικός Italian:ironico Japanese:皮肉な Korean:풍자적인 Norwegian:ironisk Polish:ironiczny EuropeanPortuguese:irónico Romanian:ironicRussian:шуточный LatinAmericanSpanish:irónico Swedish:ironisk Thai:ตลกประชดประชัน,เยาะหยันอย่างเห็นขันTurkish:alaycı Ukrainian:іронічнийVietnamese:mỉamai Translateyourtextforfree Browsealphabetically ironic ironfisted ironhanded ironhearted ironic ironicdetachment ironicdistance ironichumour AllENGLISHwordsthatbeginwith'I' Relatedtermsof ironic ironicjoke ironictone deeplyironic ironichumour ironictwist Viewmorerelatedwords Source DefinitionofironicfromtheCollinsEnglishDictionary ReadabouttheteamofauthorsbehindCollinsDictionaries. NewfromCollins QuickwordchallengeQuizReviewQuestion:1 - Score:0/5 annualloss or sadloss?Whichversioniscorrect?Heisaveryannuallosstojournalismandthebookworld.Heisaverysadlosstojournalismandthebookworld.negativeview or oceanviews?Dragthecorrectanswerintothebox. oceanviews negativeviewThereisn'tapoolbutthe arewonderful.criminalactivity or economicactivity?Whichversioniscorrect?Thereisnoindicationthateitherofthemwasinvolvedincriminalactivity.Thereisnoindicationthateitherofthemwasinvolvedineconomicactivity.falteringeconomy or industrialeconomies?Dragthecorrectanswerintothebox. falteringeconomy industrialeconomiesSwiftchangecouldharmBritain'salready .civilaction or swiftaction?Dragthecorrectanswerintothebox. civilaction swiftactionYoucouldpursuea fordamagesagainsther.Yourscore:CheckSeetheanswerNextNextquizReview Feb04,2022 Wordoftheday Chunjie anannualChinesefestivalmarkingthe(lunar)ChineseNewYear.Itcanlastoverthreedaysandincludestheexchangeofgifts,fireworkdisplays,anddancing SEEFULLDEFINITION SEEPREVIOUSWORDS Signupforournewsletter Getthelatestnewsandgainaccesstoexclusiveupdatesandoffers Signmeup LatestWordSubmissions cuckoo(newsense) Jan28,2022 explainability Jan28,2022 lethalaid Jan27,2022 bung Jan24,2022 ViewMoreSubmit Food&festivities:thelanguageofChineseNewYear ChineseNewYear,alsoknownastheLunarNewYearortheSpringFestival,isuponusandthosecelebratingwillspendthenexttwoweekswelcomingtheYearoftheTiger.Tomarktheoccasion,wedecidedtotakeacloserlookatsomeofthevocabularyrelatingtotheevent,fromfoodandfestivitiestothezodiac. Readmore 11unusual5-letterwordstokickoffyournextWordlegame Ifyou’vespentanytimeonsocialmediaoverthelastfewweeks,you’veprobablynoticedyourfeedsbeingslowlytakenoverbyblack,yellowandgreensquares.Wordleisthenameofthegame,andthissimpledailywordgamehasgoteverybodyplayingwithlanguage. Readmore NationalPuzzleDay NationalPuzzleDayfallson29January.Andwhat’snottoloveaboutpuzzles?Theyenhancealertnessandfocus,canprovidesocialinteraction,andoncesuccessfullycompletedbestowawarmingsenseofachievement. Readmore CollinsEnglishDictionaryApps DownloadourEnglishDictionaryapps-availableforbothiOSandAndroid. Readmore CollinsDictionariesforSchools Ournewonlinedictionariesforschoolsprovideasafeandappropriateenvironmentforchildren.Andbestofallit'sadfree,sosignupnowandstartusingathomeorintheclassroom. Readmore Wordlists Wehavealmost200listsofwordsfromtopicsasvariedastypesofbutterflies,jackets,currencies,vegetablesandknots! Amazeyourfriendswithyournew-foundknowledge! Readmore Scrabblescorefor'ironic':8 QuickwordchallengeQuizReviewQuestion:1 - Score:0/5 seam or seem?Dragthecorrectanswerintothebox. seem seamI toremembergivingyouverypreciseinstructions.passed or past?Whichversioniscorrect?Idashedpassedhimandoutofthedoor.Idashedpasthimandoutofthedoor.taught or taut?Whichversioniscorrect?Georgetaughtmehowtorideahorse.Georgetautmehowtorideahorse.currant or current?Whichversioniscorrect?Iofferedhimacurrantbunwithhistea.Iofferedhimacurrentbunwithhistea.morning or mourning?Dragthecorrectanswerintothebox. mourning morningAngerispartofthe process.Yourscore:CheckSeetheanswerNextNextquizReview CreateanaccountandsignintoaccessthisFREEcontent Registernoworlogintoaccess LANGUAGE English EnglishDictionary Thesaurus WordLists Grammar EnglishEasyLearningGrammar GrammarPatterns EnglishUsage TeachingResources VideoGuides Conjugations Sentences Quiz Englishgrammar Englishcollocations Englishconfusables Englishidioms Englishusage Thematicwordlists French EnglishtoFrench FrenchtoEnglish Grammar Conjugations Quiz German EnglishtoGerman GermantoEnglish Grammar Conjugations Quiz Italian EnglishtoItalian ItaliantoEnglish Grammar Conjugations Quiz Spanish EnglishtoSpanish SpanishtoEnglish Grammar Conjugations Quiz Portuguese EnglishtoPortuguese PortuguesetoEnglish Grammar Conjugations Hindi EnglishtoHindi HinditoEnglish Chinese EnglishtoChinese ChinesetoEnglish Quiz Korean EnglishtoKorean KoreantoEnglish TRANSLATOR GAMES Quiz Englishgrammar Englishcollocations Englishconfusables Englishidioms Englishusage Thematicwordlists Frenchgrammar Germangrammar Italiangrammar MandarinChinesecharacters Spanishgrammar Scrabble ScrabbleHome Wordchecker Help Tools SCHOOLS HomeSchool PrimarySchool SecondarySchool BLOG RESOURCES Resources CollinsWordoftheDay PaulNobleMethod VideoPronunciations WordoftheYear