sardonic.

Mocking in a bitter, scornful, or grimly humorous way.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• sardonic smile
• sardonic remark

On the page

His sardonic remark exposed the promise's emptiness.

Usage notes

Primary category: literary / elevated general. Forms: Comparative more sardonic; superlative most sardonic when comparison is meaningful. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: character, description. Commonness: moderately common.