satire Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun witty language used to convey insults or scorn
    sarcasm; irony; caustic remark.
    • he used sarcasm to upset his opponent
    • irony is wasted on the stupid
    • Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own"--Jonathan Swift

WordNet

Sat"ire noun
Etymology
L. satira, satura, fr. satura (sc. lanx) a dish filled with various kinds of fruits, food composed of various ingredients, a mixture, a medley, fr. satur full of food, sated, fr. sat, satis, enough: cf. F. satire. See Sate, Sad, a., and cf. Saturate.
Definitions
  1. A composition, generally poetical, holding up vice or folly to reprobation; a keen or severe exposure of what in public or private morals deserves rebuke; an invective poem; as, the Satires of Juvenal.
  2. Keeness and severity of remark; caustic exposure to reprobation; trenchant wit; sarcasm. Syn. -- Lampoon; sarcasm; irony; ridicule; pasquinade; burlesque; wit; humor.

Webster 1913