mocking

«mocking» in Mova's school dictionary: laughing at someone or something in an unkind way, often… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

adjective (mocking); verb form of mock (mock, mocks, mocked, mocking); noun (mocking, uncountable)

meaning for a pupil

1) Mocking means laughing at someone or something in an unkind way, often by copying how they speak or move. tree →

2) As an adjective, mocking describes a voice, smile or look that shows unkind fun at someone. tree →

sense in the lessons

In everyday life and PSHE mocking is a kind of teasing or bullying that hurts feelings; pupils learn the difference between friendly jokes and mocking. In stories a mocking laugh or tone tells the reader a character is unkind, proud or a villain. Related: «mockingbird» (a bird that copies other birds' songs). Phrases: «mocking tone», «mocking smile», «stop mocking».

examples

• Stop mocking your sister's accent. tree →
• He gave a mocking laugh when I missed the ball. tree →
• Mocking someone for their clothes is a form of bullying. tree →
• The villain's mocking smile made Ellie angry. tree →
• They kept mocking the new boy, so the teacher stepped in. tree →
• Her voice was mocking, not friendly. tree →
• The mockingbird was mocking the other birds' songs. tree →
• Laughing with a friend is fine; mocking them is not. tree →
• "Do you ever get anywhere?" he asked with a mocking laugh. tree →

note

Verb: «mock, mocked, mocking». Noun «mockery». «Mock» can also mean «fake/practice» in UK schools («mock exams»), which is not unkind. If someone keeps mocking you, tell a trusted adult.

In the corpora

• Online cruelty drives real people off social media; memes mocking someone's looks are bullying, even when lots of people share them.
• Real courts don't work like this — the writer is mocking judges who care most about their own importance.
• Speaking more than one language is a skill, and mocking accents is unkind.
• Mocking someone's religion, skin, body, family or food is bullying, and schools take it seriously.
• Speaking more than one language is a skill, and mocking someone's accent is unkind.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «mocking» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.