[Marlborough] was so miserably ignorant, that his deficiencies made him the ridicule of his contemporaries. Buckle.

To the people . . . but a trifle, to the king but a ridicule. Foxe.

We have in great measure restricted the meaning of ridicule, which would properly extend over whole region of the ridiculous, -- the laughable, -- and we have narrowed it so that in common usage it mostly corresponds to "derision", which does indeed involve personal and offensive feelings. Hare.

Safe from the bar, the pulpit, and the throne,
Yet touched and shamed by ridicule alone. Pope.

To see the ridicule of this practice. Addison.

Syn. -- Derision; banter; raillery; burlesque; mockery; irony; satire; sarcasm; gibe; jeer; sneer. -- Ridicule, Derision, Both words imply disapprobation; but ridicule usually signifies good-natured, fun-loving opposition without manifest malice, while derision is commonly bitter and scornful, and sometimes malignant.

I 've known the young, who ridiculed his rage. Goldsmith.

Syn. -- To deride; banter; rally; burlesque; mock; satirize; lampoon. See Deride.

This action . . . became so ridicule. Aubrey.