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Lexicon.

irony

noun [ˈaɪɹəni]
pronunciation CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, open source

Irony is a way of speaking in which the words mean something different from, often the opposite of, what they literally say, like praise heard as a dig.

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Definitions

  1. The use of words to convey a meaning opposite to their literal sense, usually to mock, criticise or keep a subject at arm's length.
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  2. A figure of speech in which praise stands for blame or blame for praise, recognised through context or tone of voice.
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  3. A situation in which events turn out contrary to what someone intended or expected, often in a way that is painful or amusing.
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  4. In drama, a situation in which the audience knows something that a character on stage does not, so that the character's words carry a meaning they cannot see.
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Examples

Usage

Irony is rarely signalled by the words alone. It lives in the gap between what is said and the situation it is said in, so the same sentence can be sincere in one setting and ironic in another. In speech, tone and facial expression carry the signal; in writing, quotation marks, an exclamation mark or simply context have to do the work. That is why irony in short messages and online comments is so often misread, and why writers add an emoji to make the intent clear.

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Irony is not the same as sarcasm. Irony can be mild, playful or even affectionate, while sarcasm is irony with an edge, aimed at wounding or belittling someone. Situational irony describes events rather than words: a fire station that burns down is ironic because the outcome mocks its purpose. A common complaint among careful writers is that ironic gets used for anything merely unlucky or coincidental, such as rain on a day off, where no expectation is actually reversed.

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The noun is countable in the sense of a particular ironic situation, as in one of the ironies of the case, and uncountable in the general sense of the device, as in a writer known for irony. Typical phrases are with irony, a touch of irony, bitter irony and the irony is that. Related forms are the adjectives ironic and ironical, the adverb ironically and the verb ironize. Webster's 1913 dictionary also records an unrelated, rare adjective irony meaning made of or like iron, formed from the word iron.

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Word forms

Regular forms according to English morphology (editorial description).

word forms

przypadek forma
singular irony
plural ironies

Word forms: Editorial team

Collocations

Synonyms · Antonyms

Synonyms sarcasm, mockery, understatement
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Antonyms sincerity, earnestness, literalness
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Etymology

From Latin ironia, from Greek eirōneia “dissimulation, irony”, from eirōn “a dissembler, one who says less than he thinks or means”. Skeat cites the early English sense from Minsheu's dictionary of 1627, “a speaking by contraries, a mocke, a scoffe”, and Webster 1913 gives as the first sense feigned ignorance used to confound or provoke an opponent.
source W. W. Skeat, An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed., Oxford 1910, open source
also Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913, open source

Related words

Related entries

Questions and answers

What does irony mean?

Irony means saying something other than what you really think, most often the opposite, so that the listener catches the hidden meaning. The word also names a situation in which events cruelly or comically contradict someone's plans, which is called situational irony.

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What is the difference between irony and sarcasm?

Sarcasm is a kind of irony, but a sharp and hostile one meant to hurt. Ordinary irony can be gentle and humorous, and it can even be turned on oneself as a way of keeping a sense of proportion.

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What is dramatic irony?

Dramatic irony is a situation in a play, film or story where the audience knows something a character does not. The character's words or plans then carry a second meaning that only the audience sees, which builds tension or comedy.

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Where does the word irony come from?

It came into English through Latin ironia from Greek eirōneia, meaning dissimulation. Skeat traces it to eirōn, a dissembler who says less than he means, and the oldest English sense was pretended ignorance used to trip up an opponent in argument.

source Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)