noun
- ridicule; mockery: The inept performance elicited derision from the audience.
- an object of ridicule.
adjective
- subject to or deserving of derision; ridiculous
noun
- the act of deriding; mockery; scorn
- an object of mockery or scorn
c.1400, from Old French derision “derision, mockery” (13c.), from Latin derisionem (nominative derisio), noun of action from past participle stem of deridere “ridicule,” from de- “down” (see de-) + ridere “to laugh.”