A laughing stock
Suggest a CorrectionMeaning
A person, group or thing made an object of widespread ridicule. Modern dictionaries usually close the compound as laughingstock, while British publishing also retains laughing-stock and laughing stock. Regional use: English origin; now international English.
Origin
Laughingstock is recorded by about 1518, and John Frith printed 'a laughing stock' in 1533. Sir Philip Sidney also used the expression before Shakespeare, who later employed it in The Merry Wives of Windsor. Stock here is best understood as a fixed object or butt at which ridicule is directed; the popular story that it necessarily describes a victim physically displayed in village stocks is unsupported by the early citations.
Research Sources
Variants
- Laughingstock
- The laughing stock of
Usage Examples
- The failed unveiling made the council a laughing stock for weeks.
- He feared that one badly edited video would turn the project into a laughingstock.
- Their boastful forecast became the laughing stock of the industry.