travesty.

1. A version or imitation so distorted or inferior that it seriously misrepresents the original or its purpose.

2. An artistic imitation that creates ridicule through grotesque incongruity or a deliberately distorted presentation.

3. To imitate or represent something in a distorted, incongruous, or ridiculous form.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• a travesty of justice
• a travesty of the original
• reduce to a travesty

On the page

Excluding the accused from the hearing made it a travesty of justice.

The adaptation was a travesty of the book's restrained ending.

Usage notes

Primary category: literary / elevated prose. Lexical Type: Word. Forms: Noun singular travesty; plural travesties. Mass use where indicated by sense. Verb: travesty; travesties; travestied; travestied; travestying. Commonness: moderately common (editorial estimate; not a corpus frequency statistic). Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1; numbered fields keep each relevant meaning separate. Research distinction: Direct dictionary reading: debased/distorted/grossly inferior imitation; grotesquely incongruous artistic/literary imitation; verb make a parody or distorted imitation. Not a blanket synonym for tragedy. Regular travesties/travestied/travestying. 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: gross distortion of a purpose or model, deliberately incongruous artistic imitation. Third-person singular: travesties.