ironical

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /aɪˈrɑnɪkəl/ UK /aɪˈrɒnɪkəl/ See IPA manual

adj

Meanings

1

adj
expressing or characterized by irony

He gave an ironical smile at the so-called good news.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · expressing or characterized... sardonic sarcastic wry mocking satirical paradoxical

Opposites

sincere literal earnest

Word family

Derived forms ironically

Related forms irony ironicironist

Etymology

From irony (via Latin ironia, from Ancient Greek eironeia 'dissimulation, feigned ignorance', from eiron 'dissembler') plus the suffixes -ic and -al.

eironeia Ancient Greek eiron Ancient Greek

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

# ironical

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** aɪˈrɑnɪkəl
**IPA (UK):** aɪˈrɒnɪkəl

## Meanings
1. expressing or characterized by irony

## Examples
- He gave an ironical smile at the so-called good news.

## Synonyms
- sardonic
- sarcastic
- wry
- mocking
- satirical
- paradoxical

## Antonyms
- sincere
- literal
- earnest

## Derived Forms
- ironically

## Related Forms
- irony
- ironic
- ironist

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: eironeia
- Root: eiron

## Etymology
From irony (via Latin ironia, from Ancient Greek eironeia 'dissimulation, feigned ignorance', from eiron 'dissembler') plus the suffixes -ic and -al.

## AI Etymology
Ironical is from irony (via Latin ironia, from Ancient Greek eironeia 'dissimulation, feigned ignorance', from eiron 'dissembler') plus the suffixes -ic and -al. Important recorded forms include eironeia (Ancient Greek) and eiron (Ancient Greek). Morphologically, the word is a built form whose named elements carry part of the historical sense. The current sense covers expressing or characterized by irony. The wider family includes derived forms such as ironically and related words such as irony, ironic, and ironist.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

markdown

ironical

Meanings

Thesaurus

Etymology

Topics

Keyboard Shortcuts

General

Send feedback