humorously sarcastic or mocking; " dry humor"; " an ironic remark often conveys an intended meaning obliquely"; " an ironic novel"; " an ironical smile"; " with a wry Scottish wit"

characterized by often poignant difference or incongruity between what is expected and what actually is; " madness, an ironic fate for such a clear thinker"; " it was ironical that the well- planned scheme failed so completely"

Meaning the opposite of what is said; containing irony; employing irony.

Exposing and ridiculing the faults and errors of others by seeming to approve or defend them.

This ironic fury, coming of the contrast of the outer and the inner, would have been indulged to the extent of permanent injury to her disposition had not her beloved Emma, immediately after the tension of the struggle ceased, required her tenderest aid. – The Complete Project Gutenberg Works of George Meredith by George Meredith

How ironic, he thought. – Caribbee by Thomas Hoover

Under all these growing and palpable evidences of Marcella's future wealth and position, Mrs. Boyce had shown her usual restless and ironic spirit. – Marcella by Mrs. Humphry Ward

Each waited for the other to begin, and on the 15th July, 1870, six months after the proposals were made, the outbreak of the Franco- Prussian War supplied a tragically ironic comment on their futility. – A Short History of English Liberalism by Walter Lyon Blease

He was ironic, but there was a suggestion which she grasped desperately. – Joan of Arc of the North Woods by Holman Day

It is, rather, the safety- valve of a highly intelligent people- the outlet for their ironic perceptions of life. – The World Decision by Robert Herrick

A sense of a strong personality in the background, not actually hostile as yet, but ironic and critical, set me instinctively and instantly on guard. – The Man From the Clouds by J. Storer Clouston

He broke off and raised the forgotten cigarette to his lips, with an ironic shrug of his shoulders, while Boone Wellver steadied himself with an effort. – The Tempering by Charles Neville Buck

However, the point exactly was that we attended this spectacle just in order not to be beguiled, just in order to enjoy with ironic detachment and, at the very most, to be amused ourselves at our sensibility should it prove to have been trapped and caught. – A Small Boy and Others by Henry James

The splendour, the grandeur were, for Milly, the bold ironic spirit behind it, so interesting too in itself. – The Wings of the Dove, Volume 1 of 2 by Henry James

That sense of bewilderment which at times overwhelmed me when the case of John Flint pressed hard, overtook me now, with its ironic humor. – Slippy McGee, Sometimes Known as the Butterfly Man by Marie Conway Oemler

Sometimes I believe you're ironic! – Lady Baltimore by Owen Wister

She turned to him with a smile that banished the somber ironic expression of her face, illuminating it as if the drooping spirit within had suddenly lit a torch and held it behind those strange pale eyes. – The Sisters-In-Law by Gertrude Atherton

The parson foundered in a storm of opprobrium, scorn, and ironic laughter. – The Card, A Story Of Adventure In The Five Towns by Arnold Bennett

He liked the look of him, but distrusted his ironic expression, and that appearance of blood to the head. – The Patrician by John Galsworthy

Is it ironic and fortunate that Humanistic Nursing should be re- issued now when it is needed even more than it was during the late 1970s? – Humanistic-Nursing by Paterson, Josephine G.

At the mention of her guardian's name an ironic smile passed over his face. – The Song of Songs by Hermann Sudermann

" That I can't say," returned the old man with mildly ironic emphasis. – Judith of the Cumberlands by Alice MacGowan

He felt, I suppose, that he had been speaking too seriously because the ironic humour with which he always treated me returned. – The Dark Forest by Hugh Walpole