I. mock 1 /mɒk $ mɑːk/ BrE AmE verb
[ Date: 1400-1500 ; Language: Old French ; Origin: moquier ]
1 . [intransitive and transitive] formal to laugh at someone or something and try to make them look stupid by saying unkind things about them or by copying them SYN make fun of :
Opposition MPs mocked the government’s decision.
‘Running away?’ he mocked.
It’s easy for you to mock, but we put a lot of work into this play.
REGISTER
Mock something or someone is used especially in literature. In everyday English, people usually say make fun of something or someone:
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Stop making fun of the way he talks!
2 . [transitive] formal to make something seem completely useless:
Violent attacks like this mock the peace process.
—mocking adjective :
Her tone was mocking.
—mockingly adverb :
His lips twisted mockingly.
—mocker noun [countable]
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THESAURUS
▪ mock formal to laugh at and say unkind things about a person, institution, belief etc, to show that you do not have a high opinion of them. Mock is a formal word - in everyday English people usually say make fun of :
The press mocked his attempts to appeal to young voters.
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She was mocked by other pupils in her class.
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You shouldn’t mock the afflicted! (=you should not make fun of people who cannot help having problems - used especially ↑ ironically , when really you think it is funny too)
▪ make fun of somebody/something to make someone or something seem stupid by making unkind jokes about them:
Peter didn’t seem to realize that they were making fun of him.
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It used to be fashionable to make fun of the European Parliament.
▪ laugh at somebody/something to make unkind or funny remarks about someone or something, because they seem stupid or strange:
I don’t want the other kids to laugh at me.
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People would laugh at the idea nowadays.
▪ poke fun at somebody/something to make someone or something seem silly by making jokes about them, especially in a way that is funny but not really cruel:
a TV series that regularly poked fun at the government
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He’s in no position to poke fun at other people’s use of English!
▪ ridicule formal to make unkind remarks that make someone or something seem stupid:
Catesby ridiculed his suggestion.
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His ideas were widely ridiculed at the time.
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Scientists ridiculed him for doubting the existence of the greenhouse effect.
▪ deride formal to make remarks that show you think that something is stupid or useless - often used when you think that the people who do this are wrong:
Some forms of alternative medicine – much derided by doctors – have been shown to help patients.
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the system that Marxists previously derided as ‘bourgeois democracy’
mock something ↔ up phrasal verb
to make a ↑ full-size model of something so that it looks real
⇨ ↑ mock-up
II. mock 2 BrE AmE adjective [only before noun]
1 . not real, but intended to be very similar to a real situation, substance etc:
war games with mock battles
a mock interview
mock marble floors
2 . mock surprise/horror/indignation etc surprise etc that you pretend to feel, especially as a joke:
She threw her hands up in mock horror.
III. mock 3 BrE AmE noun
1 . mocks [plural] British English school examinations taken as practice before official examinations:
I’m revising for my mocks.
2 . make mock of somebody literary to mock someone