Clip Art   Printable Version Pronunciation: di-raid Hear it!
Part of Speech: Verb, transitive  Meaning: To make contemptuous
fun of, to ridicule or mock.  Notes: No, today's Good Word does
not mean "stop riding" or "get off the horse", but is based on
the Latin stem -rid which refers to laughter (see Word History).
This means that the adjective, derisive [di-ri-siv], and
activity noun, derision [di-ri-zhên], are based on Latin forms,
too, with an S replacing the D. However, a person who derides
others is just an ordinary English derider.  In Play: If you
don't like derision, try to avoid dumb mistakes: "Chester Droers
can't understand why all his friends deride the new tattoo on
his chest that says 'Studd!'" In fact, to completely avoid
derision, it is best to avoid dumb ideas in general: "You can
deride my idea for an electric fork but just remember, they
derided Thomas Edison's idea of the electric light, too!"  Word
History: Today's Good Word comes from deridere "to laugh", based
on de "down, (away) from"