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When disaster strikes, keeping track of which word to use seems pretty unimportant. But you don’t want to describe disastrous events as travesties, because they’re not: they’re tragedies. Travesties are terrible too, but travesty refers specifically to something that is done in a way that makes a mockery of what it’s supposed to be: for example, a contest won by the judge’s spouse could be considered a travesty. And a trial in which the defendant wasn’t allowed to present evidence could be described as a “travesty of justice.” Travesty, which can also function as a verb meaning “to make a travesty of” or “to parody,” comes from the French verb travestir, meaning “to disguise.” Its roots, however, wind back through Italian to the Latin verb vestire, meaning “to clothe” or “to dress.” Other descendants of vestire include vestment, divest, and invest.
Synonyms
Examples of travesty in a Sentence
Robyn Merrett, StyleCaster, 11 Sep. 2024
This is an abject travesty, since the blatherskite Biden and the sycophantic cabal of fellow Democrats, the lamestream media, Hollywood elites, academia, Big Tech, etc. are the ones who have driven the political temperature to the boiling point.
—Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 16 July 2024
The New Republic, 22 June 2023
Readers may be tempted to side at one moment with the defenders of Jewish caution and Jewish sentiment, however their instincts are travestied, and soon afterward with Zuckerman’s principled view of the autonomy of art.
—Cynthia Ozick, WSJ, 25 May 2018
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Dictionary Entries Near travesty
Cite this Entry
“Travesty.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/travesty. Accessed 28 Nov. 2024.
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