/sat"uyeur/ , n.
1. the use of irony, sarcasm, ridicule, or the like, in exposing, denouncing, or deriding vice, folly, etc.
2. a literary composition, in verse or prose, in which human folly and vice are held up to scorn, derision, or ridicule.
3. a literary genre comprising such compositions.
[ 1500-10; satira, var. of satura medley, perh. fem. deriv. of satur sated (see SATURATE) ]
Syn. 1. See irony 1 . 2, 3 . burlesque, caricature, parody, travesty. SATIRE, LAMPOON refer to literary forms in which vices or follies are ridiculed. SATIRE, the general term, often emphasizes the weakness more than the weak person, and usually implies moral judgment and corrective purpose: Swift's satire of human pettiness and bestiality. LAMPOON refers to a form of satire, often political or personal, characterized by the malice or virulence of its attack: lampoons of the leading political figures.