What's the difference between mocking and sneer?

Mocking


Definition:

  • (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Mock
  • (a.) Imitating, esp. in derision, or so as to cause derision; mimicking; derisive.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) So is the mock courtroom promising “justice and fairness”.
  • (2) Infants were habituated to models posing either prototypically positive displays (e.g., happy expressions) or positive expression blends (e.g., mock surprise).
  • (3) It’s going to affect everybody.” The six songs from Rebel Heart released thus far do not shy away from controversy: one, Illuminati, mocks the various conspiracy theories on the internet that implicate a variety of entertainers – including Jay-Z and Lady Gaga – in membership of a shadowy ruling elite.
  • (4) The method correlated well with a radio-enzymatic assay for mock unknown sera (r = 0.981).
  • (5) Uptake of 1-beta-D-arabinofuranosyl-E-5-(2-bromovinyl)uracil (BV-araU) into herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1)- and 2 (HSV-2)-infected cells was elevated about 190 to 40 times, compared with that into mock-infected human embryo lung fibroblast cells.
  • (6) Arsenal had the game in their pocket and the Welshman was having such a nightmare - he missed the target with a far-post volley in the second half - that the Arsenal fans were mocking him with chants of 'Give it to Giggsy'.
  • (7) A series of experiments performed with the two immuneprecipitation techniques, reducing or nonreducing electrophoretic conditions, and addition of preformed mock BA-1 immuneprecipitate to BA-1-Sepharose immuneprecipitates convincingly demonstrated that the previously described 55 and 65 kilodalton components were artifacts caused by co-migration of CD24 with IgG and IgM heavy chains, respectively.
  • (8) His stencils, skewed perspective and wit are recognizable enough to be mocked in the New Yorker .
  • (9) It may have been like punk never ‘appened, but you caught a whiff of the movement’s scorched earth puritanism in the mocking disdain with which Smash Hits addressed rock-star hedonism.
  • (10) Social media has seized on the story, turning the Eastern Washington University’s professor of African studies into a figure vilified and mocked for cultural appropriation in the midst of fraught debates over transgender identity and police shootings of black people.
  • (11) Another was a mock-up of a speeding ticket for Mr G Bale, Campeón de Copa, for overtaking recklessly, crossing a continuous white line.
  • (12) This is a chancellor who has produced a budget for hedge fund managers more than for small businesses.” Corbyn made a point of mocking some of the chancellor’s grand rhetoric of recent years.
  • (13) During Nicolas Sarkozy's unsuccessful 2012 re-election campaign she was mocked for not knowing the price of an underground train ticket (she said €4 instead of €1.70).
  • (14) But he mocked Mitchell when he told the BBC Sunday Politics: "He's never used it in my presence, but then again I'm very proud myself to be a pleb."
  • (15) We evaluated the stroke work developed by these SMVs at afterloads of 30 mm Hg and 80 mm Hg in vivo, using a mock circulation device.
  • (16) But it accused South Park of having mocked the prophet, and cited Islamic scholars who ruled that "whoever curses the messenger of Allah must be killed".
  • (17) The Iraqi government needs to “mock and disprove” Islamic State’s online propaganda more effectively and more quickly Malcolm Turnbull has told an elite audience in Washington, saying he will raise the problem when he meets US president Barack Obama.
  • (18) But that aside, I have to disagree with what, I think, is Mr Hitchens' point about fashion: that in order to prevent disasters such as 70s style returning, we should always dress with one eye on how future generations will mock us.
  • (19) On STFU, Parents , a blog that "mocks examples of parental overshare", photographs of a child's vomit ("This is what I had to clear up today!")
  • (20) Their story involves a fraudster who posed as their builder, set up a copycat email address and even managed to mock up an incredibly realistic fake invoice.

Sneer


Definition:

  • (v. i.) To show contempt by turning up the nose, or by a particular facial expression.
  • (v. i.) To inssinuate contempt by a covert expression; to speak derisively.
  • (v. i.) To show mirth awkwardly.
  • (v. t.) To utter with a grimace or contemptuous expression; to utter with a sneer; to say sneeringly; as, to sneer fulsome lies at a person.
  • (v. t.) To treat with sneers; to affect or move by sneers.
  • (n.) The act of sneering.
  • (n.) A smile, grin, or contortion of the face, indicative of contempt; an indirect expression or insinuation of contempt.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) He made his political base in this western province, which has long felt sneered at: Harper has spent his political career redressing the balance.
  • (2) Gough, as the degenerate black sheep of an English family trying to blackmail an American adulterer, would curl a long lip into a sneering smile, which became a characteristic of this fine actor's style.
  • (3) Comment is perfectly legitimate, but the sneering, supercilious, specious and dismissive contributions masquerading as ‘commentary’ belittle the claims of a ‘quality’ paper.” Before attempting to assess the validity of the reader’s analysis – broadly shared by some other readers – I think his email reflects one or two other interesting aspects of the demographics of the Guardian’s readership and the left.
  • (4) Webb agreed, calling Miliband "irresponsible" for "stirring up cheap headlines", sneering: "Why doesn't the government set a price cap on a tin of beans?"
  • (5) I think it's a good thing that comedians want to exploit (and relieve) our anxieties about what's sayable – but only if we as audiences become bolder in opposing comedy that bullies, comedy that sneers at the vulnerable and the under-represented, comedy that feels, in Herring's words, "like being at school and going, 'Ha ha, you're a spastic.'"
  • (6) Over the years the Oscars have been variously coveted and sneered at, have increasingly brought box-office value and personal prestige, become a media obsession, a gauge of industrial morale and a way of taking the national pulse.
  • (7) It has sneered at the 1906 reforms of Lloyd George , who recognised that 19th-century philanthropy (which was always pretty judgmental and selective) was no longer adequate for a modern industrial country.
  • (8) Merkel grimly submitted to an executive fashion makeover after the media sneered at her frumpy look; now she clearly relishes shining out in jewel-toned jackets from a forest of dark suits at G20 meetings.
  • (9) At which point – obviously – you reach the stubborn limits of the debate: from even the most supposedly imaginative Labour people as much as any Tories, such heresies would presumably be greeted with sneering derision.
  • (10) This is so corny, what I'm saying, but I feel obliged to drone on about it, because before we reach the tipping point, it's time to stop sneering at fat people, being disapproving and bossing them about: walk to work, eat your greens, control yourselves.
  • (11) Henry Barnes The clergy may not be entirely trustworthy This may not be big news to cinemagoers – sneering at religious types goes all the way back to DW Griffith's Intolerance – but Cannes boasts an impressively ecumenical approach.
  • (12) Chindamo's trial, the following year, heard how the teenager, who came to Britain from Italy at the age of five, sneered as he slapped, punched and then stabbed the headteacher.
  • (13) Oh, but now this is highfalutin identity politics to be sneered at along with your safe spaces and trigger warnings.
  • (14) Hours after Tuesday’s bomb attack on a tourist area of Istanbul , Erdoğan delivered a sneering criticism of Chomsky and “so-called intellectuals” who had signed a letter calling on Turkey to end the “deliberate massacre” of Kurdish people in the south east of the country, He invited Chomsky to visit the area in a defiant televised speech to a conference of Turkish ambassadors in Ankara.
  • (15) "I always hated the expression anyway, mostly because I encountered it in stupid or sneering contexts."
  • (16) Naturally, Michael Gove , former Times columnist, responded to the thousands of economists who warned he was taking an extraordinary risk with the sneer that will follow him to his grave: “People in this country have had enough of experts.” He’s been saying the same for years.
  • (17) It is easy to sneer at the journalistic concept of the Angry Young Man (a phrase, incidentally, coined by a dismissive Royal Court press officer).
  • (18) But Winterbottom, a competent pre-war centre-half for Manchester United, unfairly sneered at by some England international veterans as one who had never played, was, in essence, a bureaucrat rather than a technician, who would admit his other job – yes, he had two!
  • (19) The decision to have clip-on ties, favoured for police officers, sneered at by those who believe "children should learn to do ties up from an early age", is already paying off, with not a single tie out of place.
  • (20) If you ever feel tempted to say "status quo" or "cul de sac", for instance, Orwell will sneer at you for "pretentious diction".