IRONY, rhetoric. A term derived from the Greek, which signifies dissimulation. It is a refined species of ridicule, which, under the mask of honest simplicity or ignorance, exposes the faults and errors of others, by seeming to adopt or defend them. 2. In libels, irony may convey imputations more effectually than direct assertion, and render the publication libelous. Hob. 215; Hawk. B. 1, c. 73, s. 4; 3 Chit. Cr. Law, 869, Bac. Ab. Libel, A 3.

Source: Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
 

Irony \I"ron*y\, a. [From Iron.]

[1913 Webster]

1. Made or consisting of iron; partaking of iron; iron; as, irony chains; irony particles; -- In this sense iron is the more common term. [R.]

--Woodward. [1913 Webster +PJC]

2. Resembling iron in taste, hardness, or other physical property. [1913 Webster]

Source: The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
 

Irony \I"ron*y\, n. [L. ironia, Gr. ? dissimulation, fr. ? a dissembler in speech, fr. ? to speak; perh. akin to E. word: cf. F. ironie.]

[1913 Webster]

1. Dissimulation; ignorance feigned for the purpose of confounding or provoking an antagonist. [1913 Webster]

2. A sort of humor, ridicule, or light sarcasm, which adopts a mode of speech the meaning of which is contrary to the literal sense of the words. [1913 Webster]

Source: The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
 

76 Moby Thesaurus words for "irony": Atticism, Janus, agile wit, ambiguity, ambiguousness, ambivalence, amphibology, antinomy, biformity, bifurcation, black humor, burlesque, caricature, causticity, comedy, complexity of meaning, conjugation, cynicism, dichotomy, double entendre, double meaning, double reference, doubleness, doublethink, doubling, dry wit, dualism, duality, duplexity, duplication, duplicity, equivocacy, equivocality, equivocalness, equivocation, esprit, farce, halving, humor, innuendo, invective, lampoon, levels of meaning, multivocality, nimble wit, oxymoron, pairing, paradox, parody, paronomasia, pleasantry, polarity, polysemousness, polysemy, pretty wit, punning, quick wit, ready wit, richness of meaning, salt, sarcasm, satire, satiric wit, savor of wit, self-contradiction, slapstick, slapstick humor, squib, subtle wit, travesty, twinning, two-facedness, twoness, uncertainty, visual humor, wit

Source: Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
 

irony

Source: WordNet (r) 2.0
 

Irony \I"ron*y\, a. [From Iron.]

1. Made or consisting of iron; partaking of iron; iron; as, irony chains; irony particles. [R.]

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Irony \I"ron*y\, n.[L. ironia, Gr. ? dissimulation, fr. ? a dissembler in speech, fr. ? to speak; perh. akin to E. word: cf. F. ironie.]

1. Dissimulation; ignorance feigned for the purpose of confounding or provoking an antagonist.

2. A sort of humor, ridicule, or light sarcasm, which adopts a mode of speech the meaning of which is contrary to the literal sense of the words.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)