Irony Definition By Oxford
Uncountable countable the funny or strange aspect of a situation that is very different from what you expect.
Irony definition by oxford. Irony is a characteristic stylistic feature of postmodernism. The essential feature of irony is the indirect presentation of a contradiction between an action or expression and the context in which it occurs. A situation like this. A situation in which something which was intended to have a particular result has the opposite or a very different result.
The irony is that. The irony of it is that the new tax system will burden those it was intended to help. A literary technique originally used in greek tragedy by which the full significance of a character s words or actions is clear to the audience or reader although unknown to the character. Formal definition of situational irony situational irony is a state of affairs or an event that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects and is often wryly amusing as a result.
An ironic expression or utterance. In rhetoric it is a figure of speech and in semiotics a kind of double sign see double coding. The irony of it is that the new tax system will burden those it was intended to help. The use of words to express something other than and especially the opposite of the literal meaning.
A usually humorous or sardonic literary style or form characterized by irony. Understatement and overstatement can also be ironic. The contrast as in a play between what a character thinks the truth is as revealed in a speech or action and what an audience or reader knows the truth to be. It was one of life s little ironies.
See also dramatic irony. Irony sarcasm satire indicate mockery of something or someone. The irony is that when he finally got the job he discovered he didn t like it. They considered dramatic monologue dramatic irony persona as mask and so on.