All words

caricature

Meaning

A distorted and often humorous imitation of a person or thing, typically achieved by exaggerating distinctive features.

Examples by difficulty

Basic: Simple, everyday vocabulary — the easiest to read.

He drew his boss as a tiny man with a giant, wobbly mustache. It was a funny caricature, making his boss's usual stern frown look like a silly, exaggerated grimace. Everyone chuckled, seeing the familiar features twisted into such a joke.

The carnival barker, his voice a gravelly roar, was a wild caricature of a man. He’d stretched his smile so wide it looked like it would snap, and his tiny, darting eyes seemed to pop from his bulbous cheeks. His whole act was a loud, clumsy exaggeration meant to grab your attention.

He peeled back the dried layers of paint, revealing the absurd, lopsided grin. It was a crude caricature of the old sailor, his cheeks puffed out like a pufferfish, his nose stretched to twice its normal size. Every wrinkle was a gouge, every smile a grimace.

Barnaby's nose was so big, it looked like a cartoon drawing of a nose on his face. When he laughed, his whole head wobbled like jelly. It was a funny, bumpy imitation of a nose, really just exaggerating his big nose.

The prize-winning poodle, Barnaby, wobbled on his tiny, sequined boots, his fluffy tail a frantic blur. The judges saw him not as a dog, but as a walking, barking caricature of pure, unadulterated joy, his bulging eyes and perpetually wagging tongue exaggerating his already over-the-top zest for life.

Normal: Standard, everyday language.

His impression of the boss was a wild caricature, all jowls and sputtering indignation, a hilarious but unsettling exaggeration of the man's true, quiet demeanor. Everyone laughed, but a little nervously, seeing their boss made so absurd.

Old Man Fitzwilliam's laugh was a booming, wheezing sound, a true caricature of mirth. Every exaggerated snort and joyful, uncontrolled gasp made him seem less like a real person and more like a silly, overdrawn drawing meant purely to evoke a chuckle.

The old sailor's rant was a hilarious caricature, each exaggerated boast about wrestling kraken and drinking moonlight making him sound like a cartoon character. His bushy eyebrows shot up, his nose twitched with every outrageous claim, and the whole tavern roared with laughter at his wildly distorted stories.

Barnaby Buttercup's laugh was a sonic boom, like a flock of startled pigeons trapped in a tuba. His chin, an ambitious promontory, jutted out, daring anyone to question its dominance. The artist's sketch was a hilarious caricature, turning his already loud presence into an unstoppable, giggling hurricane of absurdity.

My Uncle Morty’s laugh is less a chuckle and more a sonic boom that shakes the silverware. He’s become a walking caricature of himself, with jowls that wobble like unset jelly and eyebrows that ascend his forehead with each guffaw, threatening to escape entirely.

Advanced: Richer vocabulary that stretches an upper-level reader.

His attempt at a joke was a cruel caricature of his boss, exaggerating his thinning hair and loud laugh until it was a mean spirited mockery. Everyone felt a pang of discomfort, knowing the real man behind the distorted, funny imitation.

The overly enthusiastic politician, with his perpetually wide grin and gestures that flailed like a kite in a gale, was a living caricature. He so exaggerated his own supposed humility and connection to the common folk that it felt less like genuine concern and more like a mockery of it, a distorted imitation meant to provoke laughter or disgust.

The esteemed botanist, usually a picture of quiet contemplation, became a wild caricature of himself at the unveiling. His normally tidy mustache bristled, and his glasses perched precariously as he gestured with a vine-laden trowel, his excitement a hilarious exaggeration of his usual reserved demeanor.

Bartholomew Buttercup, renowned for his jiggling dewlap and ears that flapped like distressed pigeons, was an artist's dream. The portrait painter's final piece was less a likeness and more a comical caricature, exaggerating his prominent nose into a colossal, vibrant truffle.

Barnaby Buttercup, a renowned mushroom enthusiast, possessed such a prodigious proboscis that his opponents in competitive spore-sorting often found themselves sketching a comical caricature of his nose, complete with imagined fungal growths, which invariably distracted them into disqualification.

Challenging: Rare, high-register vocabulary for serious word lovers.

His bombastic pronouncements, so distorted and exaggerated, transformed him into a mere caricature of the statesman he once was. The public roared with laughter at this grotesque imitation, finding humor in the absurd magnification of his flaws.

The magistrate, notoriously ill tempered, was rendered as a grotesque caricature at the village festival. His already prominent jowls were distended, his scowl a chasm, and his tiny spectacles perched precariously on a bulbous nose, each feature grotesquely amplified for the crowd's boisterous amusement.

The jester's performance was a savage caricature of the king, his bulbous nose and slurred pronouncements an exaggerated mockery that sent the court into uproarious, yet nervous, laughter. Every exaggerated tic and haughty gesture was a spotlight on the monarch's own conspicuous affectations.

Barnaby Buttercup’s resemblance to a startled marmoset was less a likeness and more a grotesque caricature, his proboscis elongated to prodigious lengths, his jowls quivering like agitated jellyfish. His pronouncements, once sagacious, now tumbled out in a garrulous, nonsensical cascade, a veritable cacophony of illogic that sent the assembled dignitaries into paroxysms of uncontainable mirth.

Bartholomew the badger, renowned for his prodigious proboscis, became the village's de facto mascot. Every merchant hawked Bartholomew-themed trifles, each a ludicrous caricature of the esteemed mustelid, magnifying his nasal appendage to such ostentatious proportions that it resembled a rogue rutabaga.

Difficulty

Advanced — Less frequent words that stretch an upper-level vocabulary.

Appears in

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