What's the difference between pillory and ridicule?

Pillory


Definition:

  • (n.) A frame of adjustable boards erected on a post, and having holes through which the head and hands of an offender were thrust so as to be exposed in front of it.
  • (v. t.) To set in, or punish with, the pillory.
  • (v. t.) Figuratively, to expose to public scorn.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) For his lone, perilous journey that defied the US occupation authorities, Burchett was pilloried, not least by his embedded colleagues.
  • (2) Tom Zarges, the head of Nuclear Management Partners (NMP), said he was a "long way from satisfied" by the track record of the business after it was pilloried by members of the Commons public accounts committee.
  • (3) The politician's arguments around reducing the demand for sex have been pilloried by campaigners.
  • (4) The idea that they should be pilloried on the basis of a badly-worded press release just shows that some people readily get things completely out of proportion.” Stopped on the street by border force?
  • (5) Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, was at pains to privately apologise to several world leaders who were pilloried in the disclosures.
  • (6) Tony Hayward , the former BP boss pilloried by US politicians over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill last year, launched his comeback with a £1bn stock market float that will catapult him back into the oil business.
  • (7) BP in particular was pilloried for promising to go “beyond petroleum” – then running down its alternative energy division.
  • (8) Last year, as the bank spiralled towards collapse and its chairman was pilloried, some Conservatives tried to suggest it was a crisis for Labour too.
  • (9) Griffin was repeatedly pilloried last night when he was dubbed the "Dr Strangelove" of British politics after attempting to claim the mantle of Winston Churchill and struggling to explain his denial of the Holocaust.
  • (10) On the other hand, young people are pilloried for worrying out loud that their lengthy, expensive university education may only lead to an unpaid internship.
  • (11) But the unavoidable irony is that the more he pillories fame, the more famous he becomes, and the more famous he becomes, the more that fame bites back.
  • (12) Dr Edward Horgan Limerick Ireland It seems that Tony Blair will be pilloried to the end of his days for the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
  • (13) Pilloried even in their own time, their bloodied names have been brought out like Jacob Marley’s ghost every time America has taken a protectionist turn on trade policy.
  • (14) The 141-year-old New York-based bank has been pilloried as the exemplar of banking pay excess.
  • (15) Gordon Brown is pilloried for having said no more boom and bust , but the idea underpinning that was far more ridiculous, and was all Tony Blair's: no more left and right.
  • (16) At the moment, such enhancements are considered unfair and athletes who seek to evade anti-doping regulations are pilloried as cheats.
  • (17) The arrival on Twitter of one of society's most divisive figures was welcomed by some, but pilloried by many others.
  • (18) Heydon saw in the 2010 case of South Australia v Totani, also about control orders, another opportunity to pillory Soviet communism, Bills of Rights and Adelaide, in one splendid, if bewildering, paragraph : Lord Scott’s proposition, notable for its cautious unwillingness to prejudge the French and Soviet dictators, was much more specific than Lord Hope’s.
  • (19) The 19-year-old forward has found himself pilloried in the last week after Hodgson revealed the youngster had told him he was tired before the Euro 2016 qualifier in Estonia.
  • (20) I think this latest statement quite clearly makes the case that they have been ‘underzealous’ in the past and they are now doing their job.” Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Tuesday, Macdonald said there was “a danger of elevating a pub pillory over a courtroom and I think that’s precisely what’s been happening in recent cases.

Ridicule


Definition:

  • (n.) An object of sport or laughter; a laughingstock; a laughing matter.
  • (n.) Remarks concerning a subject or a person designed to excite laughter with a degree of contempt; wit of that species which provokes contemptuous laughter; disparagement by making a person an object of laughter; banter; -- a term lighter than derision.
  • (n.) Quality of being ridiculous; ridiculousness.
  • (v. t.) To laugh at mockingly or disparagingly; to awaken ridicule toward or respecting.
  • (a.) Ridiculous.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Historically, what made SNL’s campaign coverage so necessary was its ability to highlight the subtle absurdities of the election and exaggerate the ridiculous.
  • (2) It is ridiculous,' says Li Rui, a former secretary of Mao Zedong.
  • (3) No doubt it was intended as a bold and graphic way of presenting the Iranian nuclear threat, but much of the initial response – on Twitter, at least – was ridicule.
  • (4) "It would be ridiculous to encourage shale gas when in reality its greenhouse gas footprint could be as bad as or worse than coal.
  • (5) He says he won't respond to the latest ridiculous rumor of Republican action.
  • (6) At the 2nd stage, as the self-esteem lowered and negative attitude of other schoolchildren arose, the neurotic disorders emerged alongside with prevalent depressive reactions and fear of getting bad marks and being an object of ridicule at school.
  • (7) Once I’d checked she was OK I said, ‘Stop crying now.’ ” So it’s about managing emotions: ‘I’m going to need you to get a grip.’” “If you’ve got interesting points to make about the devaluing of serious words like bullying and depression, why make them in a way that sounds like you’re ridiculing people who are suffering?” I ask.
  • (8) Walden said the comparison with Comet was “ridiculous”.
  • (9) Well, Machado put those skills on display on Sunday, and this is an excuse to bring you his ridiculous play against the Yankees.
  • (10) Alamgir was ridiculed on social media after he told the BBC that the building may have collapsed after opposition activists enforcing a general strike "pushed at the gate and columns of the building".
  • (11) "The ANC pretence that we don't have a social crisis in this country is quite ridiculous.
  • (12) So we started asking them ridiculous questions about being single," says Lucas, "and the sheer number of misunderstandings about each other's lives felt like comedic material."
  • (13) "Rio Ferdinand's decision-making, the chances he has taken, it is ridiculous.
  • (14) It's ridiculous, because there will soon be a massive public outcry about how there's nowhere for kids to go.
  • (15) Westminster wits had taken to ridiculing the rebel movement against Gordon Brown as a "peasants' revolt", a cohort without influence.
  • (16) To create a new bank, which we understand is an option, which could be called Glyn Mills, is ridiculously back to the future.
  • (17) JD, Oxford More than three months to get a replacement debit card is ridiculous, and we agree that you have been more than patient.
  • (18) The Kiev-appointed governor, Serhiy Taruta, has dismissed this poll as ridiculous, pointing out that most of the region's 2.4 million voters won't take part.
  • (19) Liberal Democrats and Conservatives today ridiculed a request by Labour to broadcasters to focus more on policy analysis.
  • (20) Edge: Cardinals Bench Shane Robinson made a name for himself in Game Four of the NLCS with a pinch-hit home run and actually finished the NLCS with an OPS of 1.278, which is completely ridiculous and tops any of his teammates by a country mile.