What's the difference between mockery and scoffing?
Mockery
Definition:
(n.) The act of mocking, deriding, and exposing to contempt, by mimicry, by insincere imitation, or by a false show of earnestness; a counterfeit appearance.
(n.) Insulting or contemptuous action or speech; contemptuous merriment; derision; ridicule.
(n.) Subject of laughter, derision, or sport.
Example Sentences:
(1) These faux pas by the Institutional Revolutionary party candidate, famous for his good looks and telenovela star wife, at the international literary festival in Guadalajara, left Mexico's social and mainstream media buzzing with mockery.
(2) Restricted franchise in EU referendum would make a mockery of democracy | Letters Read more My own interest in this matter goes back many years – including devoting my maiden speech in the House of Commons in 2001 to the case for lowering the voting age to 16 across the board.
(3) In announcing this sabotage, ministers make a mockery of their own supposed core objectives: local empowerment within a "big society"; massive job creation – via a green industrial revolution – to counter austerity-related job losses; desire to be the greenest government ever ; tackling global warming, and so on.
(4) The royals’ habitual secrecy makes a mockery of the accountability we expect of people who receive public money.
(5) There is strikingly little support for the Republican contender whose gaffe-prone visit to Europe in July won him few friends and who regularly turns European welfarism and "entitlement societies" into points of mockery in his campaign speeches.
(6) There was quite a bit of international mockery about our supposedly all-encompassing "sex by surprise" laws after the rape accusations against Julian Assange .
(7) Komoroske and a neighbour researched the new arrival's chequered past, the basis of which, she said, made a mockery of the decision to award him residency in New Zealand.
(8) One newspaper declared that Mohamed had "made a mockery" of the government's claim to protect the public, while another offered a reward for information leading to his capture: "£25k to Find the Burka Bunker" .
(9) The mockery continued when he noted semi-automatics had only two purposes: to kill people, and to let their owners go to a shooting range, "yell yeehaw, and get all horny at the rapid fire and the burning vapor spurting from the end of the barrel".
(10) No sooner had Conway begun to insist in interviews that “ the pivot that he’s made is on substance ”, than he proceeded to make a mockery of her claims.
(11) There was also some mockery on social media as tweeters focused on Miliband’s repeated use of anecdotes involving personal conversations he had with ordinary voters, and in particular his double reference to Gareth, a software developer, who turned out to work for a London based IT firm and is a former Lib Dem supporter considering switching to Labour.
(12) It is the ultimate representation of spectacle, a mockery of history and tradition, which serves and caters for tourists and expatriates.
(13) These cuts are a long way from the average pay increases recently experienced by FTSE 100 company chief executives or the bonuses of many senior financial service executives, and make a mockery of the claim that "we are all in this together".
(14) And this cannot logically happen, because as Willem says, there is one thing that no establishment, no dogma, religion or ideology, can bear: mockery.
(15) This, perhaps, is because he is so switched on to self-mockery.
(16) Amrit Singh, the ACLU lawyer who argued the case said: "The decision to not release the photographs makes a mockery of President Obama's promise of transparency and accountability."
(17) In 12 Years a Slave, however, this reassuring cliche is overthrown, and the relationship between Mistress Epps (Sarah Paulson) and Patsey (Lupita Nyong'o) makes a mockery of the one between Scarlett O'Hara (Vivien Leigh) and Prissy (Butterfly McQueen).
(18) Another theory, which goes back in some form to ancient Greek philosophy, argues that all laughter is an expression of superiority: it is, in other words, always an aggressive response, a form of derision or mockery (laughing at, rather than with).
(19) The steady feed of rambling selfie videos have prompted widespread mockery and scorn and in some cases have clearly further distracted from the plight of Harney County ranchers whom the militia claim to be backing.
(20) Reedie said the official was able to test the athlete but only after being told by security officials that 30 days’ notice would be required in future, which “makes a mockery of the idea of no-notice testing”.
Scoffing
Definition:
(p. pr. & vb. n.) of Scoff
Example Sentences:
(1) When in February Jeb Bush announced 21 foreign policy advisers , a list that included 17 people from his brother George W Bush’s team, critics scoffed.
(2) Isolationist?” scoffed McKeon, a former chairman of the House armed services committee whom Saudi Arabia recently hired as a lobbyist .
(3) The rebels scoffed at suggestions by Downing Street that David Cameron would use the pause in the bill to try and win round more Tory MPs before the government tries to revive the measure in the autumn.
(4) Obviously it should be scoffed down in a box set, like a Supersize V Superskinny obese person's enormo-breakfast, before a period of lying green-faced in a darkened room, listening to experimental jazz, muttering, "Carrie can't let another mistake happen!
(5) Francisco Moreno, an unemployed bookkeeper, scoffed at Spanish leaders' calls on the public to be patient.
(6) The cable goes on to note that the British high commission in Harare "scoffed at the very idea".
(7) I remember them finishing second in the league with Ranieri and the team was upcoming with young players like John Terry and Frank Lampard, who were the players that contributed to the success of Chelsea .” In the past Mourinho has scoffed at Ranieri’s managerial record and the relationship between the pair became particularly sour when both men managed in Italy , Mourinho at Internazionale and Ranieri at Juventus and then Roma.
(8) Last week, grid operators warned the phase-out could result in winter blackouts – a prospect Merkel scoffed at .
(9) Lawson insisted her lifestyle was "normal" and that while the enviable kitchen on her TV show was not her own, those were definitely her real children darting in and out of the room, scoffing down ricotta cakes with grilled radicchio baked by their picture-perfect mother.
(10) Now it is Holland who will be confident, even if Van Gaal scoffed at suggestions that they are now favourites and admitted it is unlikely that Nigel de Jong will be available after he was removed in the fifth minute.
(11) Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, among the few Republicans joining former GOP presidential nominee John McCain of Arizona in calling for Guantánamo to be closed, scoffed at the idea that the government can't find a way to hold Guantánamo prisoners in the United States.
(12) Try surfing lessons and deep-sea rafting before scoffing whisky-marinated Arctic char and cloudberry cheesecake at the quayside Børsen Spiseri fish restaurant.
(13) When I got to the part about how every other doctor I saw that year said I was fine, physically speaking, and had referred me to a psychiatrist, they scoffed knowingly and protectively.
(14) Critics scoffed that it was out of date before it began because it was obvious to them that magnetic levitation would be the future of train travel.
(15) Colin Firth has pulled out of the forthcoming film Paddington, where he was to voice the beloved marmalade-scoffing bear of the title.
(16) "Oh, all that rubbish about Muriel being poisoned by a kipper in Glastonbury," he scoffed.
(17) In my best Australian, total buggeration.” Prideaux scoffed at the theory shared by some local people that big landowners secretly favoured HS2 because they will make millions.
(18) During a trip to Kiev, US secretary of state John Kerry claimed Moscow was “working hard to create a pretext for Russia to invade further,” and “hiding its hand behind falsehoods, intimidation and provocations.” Kerry also scoffed at reports of a news conference held by Vladimir Putin in which he appeared to deny a Russian military presence in Crimea.
(19) After earlier eliciting applause when he thanked Tony Abbott for his service, Turnbull was scoffed at when he declared: “We are not run by factions.” Laughter and derision rose from the floor.
(20) In 2008, Putin scoffed at claims by a Moscow-based tabloid that he would marry former Olympic gymnast Alina Kabayeva, known for her "incredible flexibility".