Satire Terms + Examples

double entendre

Definition: A phrase or a figure of speech that has two different meanings, or which might be understood in two different ways.The first meaning is usually straightforward, while the second meaning is ironic, risqué, or inappropriate. Examples: (1) "Marriage is a fine institution, but I'm not ready for an institution." (Mae West) (2) Polyphemus, the cyclops in The Odyssey, is tricked into believing Odysseus is named "Nohbody," says, "Nobody has hurt me. Nobody is going to kill me."

caricature

Definition: A picture or description of a person in which in which certain physical features or mannerisms are exaggerated for satirical effect. Example: "[Mrs. Bennett's] mind was less difficult to develop. She was a woman of mean understanding, little information, and uncertain temper. When she was discontented, she fancied herself nervous. The business of her life was to get her daughters married; its solace was visiting and news." -- from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice

pun

Definition: A play on words that produces a humorous effect by using a word that suggests two or more meanings, or by exploiting similar sounding words that have different meanings. Example: "I saw a documentary on how ships are kept together. Riveting!"

exaggeration

Definition: A statement that makes something sound much worse, or better, than it really is. Example: Flannery O'Connor writes in her essay, Parker's Back, ""And the skin on her face was thin and drawn tight like the skin on an onion and her eyes were gray and sharp like the points of two ice picks."

Freudian slip

Definition: A verbal mistake that is believed to be linked to the unconscious mind. These slips supposedly reveal the real secret thoughts and feelings that people hold. Examples: (1) During a televised speech on education, Senator Ted Kennedy meant to say that "Our national interest ought to be to encourage the best and brightest." Instead, Kennedy accidentally said breast - his hands even cupping the air as he said the word. (2) At a Washington D.C. dinner party, Condoleezza Rice, then National Security Advisor to President Bush stated, "As I was telling my husb—as I was telling President Bush."

diatribe

Definition: A violent or bitter criticism of something or someone. It is a rhetorical device used as a verbal attack against a person, group, institution, or a particular behavior. Example: "The vast majority of those intellectuals whom I know seek for nothing, do nothing, and are at present incapable of hard work. They call themselves intellectuals, but they use 'thou' and 'thee' to their servants, they treat the peasants like animals, they learn badly, they read nothing seriously, they do absolutely nothing, about science they only talk, about art they understand little ..." -- from Anton Chekhov's play Cherry Orchard

understatement

Definition: A writer or speaker deliberately makes a situation seem less important or serious than it is. Examples: (1) "Last week I saw a woman flayed, and you will hardly believe how much it altered her person for the worse." (Jonathan Swift, A Tale of a Tub, 1704) (2) "I am just going outside and may be some time." (Captain Lawrence Oates, Antarctic explorer, before walking out into a blizzard to face certain death, 1912)

parody

Definition: Also known as a spoof. a text that imitates the characteristic style of an author or a work for comic effect. Example: Weird Al Yankovic's "Chamllionaire lyrics "Look at me, I'm white and nerdy / I wanna roll with / The gangstas / But so far they all think I'm too white and nerdy."

black humor

Definition: Also known as dark comedy or gallows humor, this type of humor is a comic style that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, (particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discuss, such as death). Some comedians use it as a tool for exploring vulgar issues, thus provoking discomfort and serious thought as well as amusement in their audience. Example: Author and playwright Oscar Wilde was destitute and living in a cheap boarding house when he found himself on his deathbed. There are variations on what his exact words were, but his reputed last words were, "Either that wallpaper goes or I do."

repartee

Definition: Conversation or speech characterized by quick, witty comments or replies. Example: "Looking at a worn-out toothbrush in their hostess's bathroom, a fellow guest said to Dorothy Parker, 'Whatever do you think she does with that?' 'I think she rides it on Halloween' was the reply."

blue humor

Definition: Humorous entertainment that ranges from bordering on indelicacy to gross indecency and offensiveness. It is also referred to as "ribaldry" or "lewdness." Example: Jonathan Swift's poem "The Lady's Dressing Room" employs blue humor: "The various combs for various uses, / Filled up with dirt so closely fixt, / No brush could force a way betwixt. / A paste of composition rare, / Sweat, dandruff, powder, lead and hair."

blunder

Definition: Involves a character or a comedian making foolish mistakes, which seem humorous to others Example: See image.

euphemism

Definition: Polite, indirect expressions that replace words and phrases considered harsh and impolite, or which suggest something unpleasant. Examples: "In the family way" instead of "pregnant." "B.O." instead of "body odor." "A little thin on top" instead of "balding."

wordplay

Definition: The manipulation of language (in particular, the sounds and meanings of words) with the intent to amuse. Examples: (1) "Champagne for my real friends and real pain for my sham friends." (credited to Tom Waits) (2) "Hanging is too good for a man who makes puns; he should be drawn and quoted." (Fred Allen)

juxtaposition

Definition: A literary technique in which two or more ideas, places, characters, and their actions are placed side by side in a narrative or a poem, for the purpose of developing comparisons and contrasts. Example: "The roadsides, once so attractive, were now lined with browned and withered vegetation as though swept by fire." (Rachel Carson in Silent Spring)

hyperbole

Definition: Exaggeration for emphasis. Example: "I had to wait in the station for ten days - an eternity." (Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness")

oversimplification

Definition: To take a subject and reduce it down to such a simple explanation that some meaning is lost.

irony

Definition: (1) Verbal: The intended meaning of a statement differs from the meaning that the words appear to express. (2) Situational: There is an incongruity between what is expected or intended and what actually occurs. (3) Dramatic: An effect produced by a narrative in which the audience knows more about present or future circumstances than a character in the story.

allusion

Definition: A brief reference to a person, place, or event--real or fictional. Example: "I was not born in a manger. I was actually born on Krypton and sent here by my father, Jor-el, to save the Planet Earth." (Senator Barack Obama, speech at a fundraiser for Catholic charities, October 16, 2008)

paradox

Definition: A figure of speech in which a statement appears to contradict itself, but is nonetheless true. Example: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."