caricature
/ˈkæɹɪkəˌtʃʊə/US/ˈkɛɹɪkət͡ʃʊɚ/
caricature noun: a pictorial representation of someone in which distinguishing features are exaggerated for comic effect.
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Noun
caricature (plural caricatures)
- A pictorial representation of someone in which distinguishing features are exaggerated for comic effect.
- Lo Ching-chong (羅慶忠), better known as L.C.C., showed off a caricature of Lu he did in 2001. In the black-and-white drawing, Lu sports a bird's nest-like hairdo, with a bird perched in it.2006 March 7, Shu-ling Ko, “Cartoonists decry the lack of interest in their talents”, in Taipei Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 30 Dec 2006, Taiwan News, page 3
- Men In Black 3 lacks the novelty of the first film, and its take on the late ’60s feels an awful lot like a psychedelic dress-up party, all broad caricatures and groovy vibes.2012 May 24, Nathan Rabin, “Film: Reviews: Men In Black 3”, in The Onion AV Club
- A grotesque misrepresentation.
- A grotesque caricature of virtue.1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter III, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and...
- Anything more appalling than this jumbled mass of the remains of a departed race I cannot imagine, and what made it even more dreadful was that in this dry air a considerable number of the bodies had simply become desiccated with the skin still on them, and now, fixed in every conceivable position...1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC
- In facial recognition systems, a face that has been modified to look less like the average face, and thus more distinctive.
Adjective
caricature (not comparable)
- Having the characteristics of a caricature, grotesque.
- That singularly foolish old lady, her grandmother, got up a sort of caricature conspiracy, and Miss Churchill was to have been married to a coxcombical Jacobite, of the name of Trevanion; but he was arrested in the church, though he has since escaped by means of the jailor's daughter.1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, pages 274–275
Verb
caricature (third-person singular simple present caricatures, present participle caricaturing, simple past and past participle caricatured)
- To represent someone in an exaggerated or distorted manner.
- Their faults grew suddenly perceptible, and their absurdities an unfailing subject of mimicry. All these, in his hands, became singularly amusing. Francesca, who had little knowledge, and no envy, of the individuals so relentlessly caricatured, could not help being entertained.1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XVII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 180
caricature meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
caricature in Hindi
- कैरिकेचर
caricature in Tamil
- படம், கேலிச்சித்திரம், பகடிப் படம், பகடிப்படம் வரை, நையாண்டி வருணனை, மிகைப்படுத்திக் கேலிக்குள்ளாக்கு
caricature in Urdu
- خاکہ, خاکہ اڑانا
caricature in Bengali
- ব্যঙ্গচিত্র
More languagesFewer languages
- caricature in Malayalam
- ഹാസ്യചിത്രം, കാർട്ടൂൺ
- caricature in Kannada
- ಪೇರಣಕ, ವ್ಯಂಗ್ಯಚಿತ್ರ, ವಿಕಟಚಿತ್ರ, ಅಣಕುಚಿತ್ರ
- caricature in Punjabi
- ਕੈਰਿਕੇਚਰ
- caricature in Gujarati
- ઠઠ્ઠાચિત્ર ṭhaṭhṭhācitra
- caricature in Odia
- ବ୍ଯ଼ଙ୍ଗଚିତ୍ର, ବ୍ଯ଼ଂଗଚିତ୍ର
- caricature in Nepali
- व्यंग्यचित्र
- caricature in Arabic
- كَارِيكَاتِير kārīkātēr, كَارِيكَاتُور kārīkātūr, رَسْم هَزْلِيّ rasm hazliyy
- caricature in Malay
- karikatur
- caricature in Indonesian
- karikatur
- caricature in Persian
- کاریکاتور kârikâtur
- caricature in Vietnamese
- tranh biếm hoạ
Examples of caricature in a sentence
- So it ends up a caricature rather than a depthy portrayal?
- At universities like Oxford, middle-class students hold 'chav bops' where they dress up as this working-class caricature.
- A yellow, viraginous caricature of Hillary Clinton leered out from a black background.
Forms of caricature
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | caricatures |
| alternative form (archaic) | caricatura |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | caricatures |
| present participle | caricaturing |
| past participle | caricatured |
| past | caricatured |
Origin of caricature
Borrowed from French caricature, from Italian caricatùra, ultimately from Latin carrus, and so not related to character, which is instead ultimately from Ancient Greek χαρακτήρ (kharaktḗr, “type, nature, character”).
Words formed from caricature
Phrases with caricature
Questions about caricature
- What does caricature mean?
- Caricature means a pictorial representation of someone in which distinguishing features are exaggerated for comic effect.
- What is caricature in Hindi?
- Caricature in Hindi is कैरिकेचर. See Caricature meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is caricature?
- Caricature can be a noun, an adjective or a verb.
- How do you pronounce caricature?
- Caricature is pronounced /ˈkɛɹɪkət͡ʃʊɚ/ (US).
- What is the plural of caricature?
- The plural of caricature is caricatures.
Words near caricature in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: caricature (page history and authors); caricature (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); caricature (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); caricature (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); Caricature (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); caricature (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); caricature (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); caricature (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ઠઠ્ઠાચિત્ર (Gujarati) (page history and authors); caricature (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); caricature (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-caricature.wav.
Cite this entry: “caricature.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/caricature. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.