sardonic : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: sardonic	by the DICT Development Group
3 results for sardonic
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
sardonic adj disdainfully or ironically humorous; scornful and mocking; "his rebellion is the bitter, sardonic laughter of all great satirists"- Frank Schoenberner; "a wry pleasure to be...reminded of all that one is missing"- Irwin Edman
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Sardonic \Sar*don"ic\, a. Of, pertaining to, or resembling, a kind of linen made at Colchis.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Sardonic \Sardon"ic\, a. [F. sardonique, L. sardonius, Gr. [?], [?], perhaps fr. [?] to grin like a dog, or from a certain plant of Sardinia, Gr. [?], which was said to screw up the face of the eater.] Forced; unnatural; insincere; hence, derisive, mocking, malignant, or bitterly sarcastic; -- applied only to a laugh, smile, or some facial semblance of gayety. Where strained, sardonic* smiles are glozing still, And grief is forced to laugh against her will. --Sir H. Wotton. The scornful, ferocious, sardonic grin of a bloody ruffian. --Burke. {Sardonic grin} [or] {laugh}, an old medical term for a spasmodic affection of the muscles of the face, giving it an appearance of laughter.