Translate irony | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish Definition of irony
noun (plural ironies)
the expression of one’s meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect:“Don’t go overboard with the gratitude,” he rejoined with heavy irony a state of affairs or an event that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects and is often amusing as a result: [with clause]:the irony is that I thought he could help me (also dramatic or tragic irony) a literary technique, originally used in Greek tragedy, by which the full significance of a character’s words or actions are clear to the audience or reader although unknown to the character.
