parody.

1. A work that closely imitates another work or recognizable style for comic effect or ridicule.

2. An imitation so weak or ridiculous that it fails to reproduce what made the original valuable.

3. To imitate a work, style, or behavior in a recognizably comic or satirical way.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• a parody of a poem
• affectionate parody
• musical parody

On the page

Her poem was an affectionate parody of grand romantic verse.

The sketch was a parody of detective fiction, down to its solemn narration.

Usage notes

Primary category: literary / elevated prose. Lexical Type: Word. Forms: Noun singular parody; plural parodies. Mass use where indicated by sense. Verb: parody; parodies; parodied; parodied; parodying. Commonness: common (editorial estimate; not a corpus frequency statistic). Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1; numbered fields keep each relevant meaning separate. Research distinction: Full dictionary entry directly read: literary/musical work closely imitating style for comic effect/ridicule; feeble/ridiculous imitation; verb compose/perform an imitation as parody. Three noun/verb senses, regular parodies/parodied/parodying. Individual usefulness checked for a precise literary, narrative, dialogue or critical function. Definitions and examples are original; commonness is an editorial estimate. Mood and intensity apply only to inherent qualities of the specific sense. Writing functions: comedy through close stylistic imitation, a feeble imitation failing its purpose. Third-person singular: parodies.