Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A literary or artistic work that imitates the characteristic style of an author or a work for comic effect or ridicule.
  • noun The genre of literature comprising such works.
  • noun Something so bad as to be equivalent to intentional mockery; a travesty.
  • noun Music The practice of reworking an already established composition, especially the incorporation into the Mass of material borrowed from other works, such as motets or madrigals.
  • transitive verb To make a parody of. synonym: imitate.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A kind of literary composition in which the form and expression of grave or dignified writings are closely imitated, but are made ridiculous by the subject or method of treatment; a travesty that follows closely the form and expression of its original; specifically, a burlesque imitation of a poem, in which a trivial or humorous subject is treated in the style of a dignified or serious one: also applied to burlesque musical works.
  • noun A popular maxim; a proverb. Wright.
  • To turn into a parody; write a parody upon; imitate, as a poem or song, in a ludicrous or ridiculous manner.
  • noun Passage; passing away.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To write a parody upon; to burlesque.
  • noun A writing in which the language or sentiment of an author is mimicked; especially, a kind of literary pleasantry, in which what is written on one subject is altered, and applied to another by way of burlesque; travesty.
  • noun obsolete A popular maxim, adage, or proverb.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A work or performance that imitates another work or performance with ridicule or irony.
  • verb To make a parody of something.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun humorous or satirical mimicry
  • verb make a parody of
  • noun a composition that imitates or misrepresents somebody's style, usually in a humorous way
  • verb make a spoof of or make fun of

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin parōdia, from Greek parōidiā : para-, subsidiary to; see para– + aoidē, ōidē, song; see wed- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin parodia, from Ancient Greek παρῳδία ("parody"), from παρά ("besides") + ᾠδή (ōidē, "song").

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Examples

Comments

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  • Hilarious David Blaine parody: One or two sweary words here: don't watch if you're easily offended.

    February 12, 2008

  • SofG...that was hilarious! Thanks.

    February 12, 2008

  • The sequel is pretty great too. ;-)

    February 12, 2008

  • uselessness...that one was actually more hilarious. Thanks.

    February 13, 2008

  • Uselessness? That you? Howdy, stranger! :-)

    February 13, 2008

  • Who, me? I have been rather absent lately, haven't I? And it comes with this frustrating sort of guilt, that I've missed too much discussion, and I'll never get caught up again, and that little devil anticonscience on my shoulder telling me that I should just leave Wordie altogether, because it's not worth the humiliation of being so far out of the proverbial loop now. Fortunately, that guy is a moron and I never listen to him. I'm back and, while I'll never get caught up, maybe I can jump into the stream right here and just start swimming again.

    February 13, 2008

  • Hmm, as it turns out, there are also a Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5 that I hadn't seen before either. The disappointing fourth one reveals that the whole series is just a viral ad campaign for a web site called ZaOza, but it's still funny. They probably shouldn't have let the series run so long.

    February 13, 2008

  • Yea! Uselessness is back!

    February 13, 2008

  • Leave Wordie altogether‽ *Gasp* I hope that's a parody.

    I kind of like bopping in and out of the stream. No need to be a completist.

    February 13, 2008

  • What John said! Don't scare us like that, uselessness. We'd have to scream histrionically!

    And remember: You're on the Facebook Wordie team. We can stalk you. ;-)

    February 13, 2008

  • Which means that he can also stalk you. *waggles eyebrows at reestee*

    February 13, 2008

  • *runs off to reset Facebook privacy settings*

    ;->

    February 13, 2008