satire
SAT-eye-ernounMeaning humor that exposes foolishness or wrongdoing, often by exaggerating it
Memory hook SAT + IRE: anger turned into laughs. Tired of silly rules, the students put their ire into a play about a king who bans frowning; the whole school laughs and gets the point. The play is a satire.
The comic strip is a gentle satire of office life, full of pointless meetings.
In context The novel is more than a funny story; it is a satire that uses exaggeration to show how silly the town’s obsession with perfect lawns has become.
Similar send-up, ridicule, mockery, spoof
Opposite tribute, praise
From Latin satura, “a mixture,” the name of a kind of Roman poem that made fun of people’s faults.