What's the difference between sarcasm and wit?

Sarcasm


Definition:

  • (n.) A keen, reproachful expression; a satirical remark uttered with some degree of scorn or contempt; a taunt; a gibe; a cutting jest.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) I relayed all this depressing news to Prof Ashton, who replied with spirited sarcasm, "I've put forward my idea!
  • (2) Lendl and Mauresmo are former world No1s but he is an unsmiling martinet with a cutting line in sarcasm, she a mentor who chooses her words like a schoolteacher.
  • (3) But by actually writing the word "innocent", Tugendhat was able to judge her stage directions to be the opposite, as the English are known for their sarcasm.
  • (4) Mail them to knowledge@theguardian.com , marked Curb Your Sarcasm.
  • (5) April 14, 2014 As the sarcasm-laden ribbing entered its second day, the minerals council began to elicit some sympathy for its horribly backfiring campaign.
  • (6) Meanwhile traders and global companies are forecasting "business as usual", Reuters reports: [Rosneft head] Igor Sechin himself responded to being penalised for the Ukraine policies of his friend President Vladimir Putin with sarcasm, calling it "an appreciation of our efficiency".
  • (7) The inference of sarcasm from the refreshingly rebellious wife of the Speaker could only be drawn in the full knowledge that Britons run on such humour like midwesterns do corn oil.
  • (8) Thus recently I've been scouring friends' timelines looking to add unwelcome sarcasm and scorn to all the gaiety, enthusiasm and affection.
  • (9) Sarcasm is a useful weapon because it’s not common in Thai humour.
  • (10) Sarcasm is not a defense but a form of aggressive discharge.
  • (11) He criticised Obama for the sarcasm he displayed over the smaller navy.
  • (12) More from the walking monument to sarcasm that is Tom Waterhouse: "When I've bought my chalet later this year you'd be most welcome to rent it at a very reasonable rate for a few weeks so you can write that great novel you must as a journalist be constantly dreaming of unleashing on an unsuspecting public."
  • (13) Read more Corbyn appeared to be wearying of the relentless media attention and came close to sarcasm.
  • (14) Responding to a pledge by Romney to increase military spending and a complaint that the navy had fewer ships, Obama resorted to heavy sarcasm.
  • (15) 'The sentences,' wrote Larissa MacFarquhar in a brilliant New Yorker profile of Chomsky 10 years ago, 'are accusations of guilt, but not from a position of innocence or hope for something better: Chomsky's sarcasm is the scowl of a fallen world, the sneer of hell's veteran to its appalled naifs' – and thus, in an odd way, static and ungenerative.
  • (16) In his longest-running column, entitled For My Mother Bohemians, he relentlessly exposed the shortcomings of the political elite to the full force of his sarcasm by quoting their words back at them.
  • (17) The Curmudgeon Moans and has a great line in sarcasm.
  • (18) • Meet a student from... Greece: ‘UK lad culture was a surprise – and in Greece we don’t have pre-drinking’ • Meet a student from... France: ‘I miss the patisserie, boulangerie and steak - but France isn’t that far…’ • Meet a student from... Ireland: ‘I’m always subjected to atrocious Irish accents and jokes about drinking’ • Meet a student from... Hong Kong: ‘I surprisingly miss the heat, humidity and crowdedness of Hong Kong’ • Meet a student from... Germany: ‘I brought a meat hammer from Germany so I can make schnitzel’ • Meet a student from... Malaysia: ‘I miss how, in Malaysia, everything revolves around food’ • Meet a student from... the US: ‘As an American, it took me four months to catch on to British sarcasm’ • Meet a student from... Nigeria: ‘People sit around drinking tea, which isn’t common in Nigeria.
  • (19) The hypothesis that people of different races and sexes, having divergent temperaments and beliefs, will also show different factors involved in their attitudes toward death was not supported because the factors of escape, depressive-fear, mortality, and sarcasm were common to them all.
  • (20) January 19, 2014 7.03pm GMT Preamble So this year's AFC Championship Game match-up pits the New England Patriots against the Denver Broncos and I know what you're thinking, hey if only there were storylines for this game (searches in vain for a sarcasm font).

Wit


Definition:

  • (inf.) of Wit
  • (n.) To know; to learn.
  • (v.) Mind; intellect; understanding; sense.
  • (v.) A mental faculty, or power of the mind; -- used in this sense chiefly in the plural, and in certain phrases; as, to lose one's wits; at one's wits' end, and the like.
  • (v.) Felicitous association of objects not usually connected, so as to produce a pleasant surprise; also. the power of readily combining objects in such a manner.
  • (v.) A person of eminent sense or knowledge; a man of genius, fancy, or humor; one distinguished for bright or amusing sayings, for repartee, and the like.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) In a poll before the debate, 48% predicted that Merkel, who will become Europe's longest serving leader if re-elected on 22 September, would emerge as the winner of the US-style debate, while 26% favoured Steinbruck, a former finance minister who is known for his quick-wit and rhetorical skills, but sometimes comes across as arrogant.
  • (2) We are already witnessing a wholly understandable uprising of protest.
  • (3) Among the guests invited to witness the flypast were six second world war RAF pilots, dubbed the “few” by the wartime prime minister, Winston Churchill.
  • (4) Maguire's colleagues rushed to her side, some administering first aid while others held her attacker, witnesses said.
  • (5) That’s when you heard the ‘boom’.” Teto Wilson also claimed to have witnessed the shooting, posting on Facebook on Sunday morning that he and some friends had been at the Elk lodge, outside which the shooting took place.
  • (6) Any party or witness is entitled to use Welsh in any magistrates court in Wales without prior notice.
  • (7) Solzhenitsyn was acknowledged as a "truth-teller" and a witness to the cruelties of Stalinism of unusual power and eloquence.
  • (8) Unfortunately, under the Faustian pact we have witnessed a double whammy: fiscal policy being used to reduce government spending when the economy is already depressed.
  • (9) John Carver witnessed signs of much-needed improvement from the visitors in a purposeful spell either side of the interval but it was not enough to prevent a fifth successive Premier League defeat.
  • (10) Two officers who witnessed the shooting of unarmed 43-year-old Samuel DuBose in Cincinnati will not face criminal charges, despite seemingly corroborating a false claim that DuBose’s vehicle dragged officer Ray Tensing before he was fatally shot.
  • (11) He could be the target of more punishing wit, as when Michael Foot, noting a tendency to be tougher abroad than at home, called him "a belligerent Bertie Wooster without even a Jeeves to restrain him."
  • (12) Thanks to the groundbreaking technology and heavy investment of a new breed of entertainment retailers offering access services, we are witnessing a revolution in the entertainment industry, benefitting consumers, creators and content owners alike.” ERA acts as a forum for the physical and digital retail sectors of music, and represents over 90% of the of the UK’s entertainment retail market.
  • (13) The observed complications were post-labor hemorrhage (3.1%), polysystolia (4.1%) and vomiting (5.2%), without significant difference with the witness group.
  • (14) At one, in the Gun and Dog pub in Leeds on Tuesday, a witness described how the meeting descended into chaos when one of the rebels smashed a glass and threatened to attack Griffin supporter Mark Collett.
  • (15) My mother told me not to cry.” He has since witnessed the transformation of Hagere Selam.
  • (16) Imagine witnessing a game of bridge being played in the Cabinet War Rooms in the year 2072 AD.
  • (17) The contrast between the two plans is best witnessed from the small park between the Trade Centre and the 1930s National Assembly, one of the few survivors of the earthquake.
  • (18) Results indicate that 75% of the participating boys and 10% of participating girls had witnessed the shooting, stabbing, robbing, or killing of another person in their own lives.
  • (19) FWA chairman Andy Dunn said: "Those members who have been fortunate enough to be working at a match involving Luis Suárez have witnessed an astonishing talent first-hand.
  • (20) The main pregnancy resolution was vaginal via; only 6.3% of the study group subjected cesarean section against 10.3% of the witness group and the most frecuent indication was stationary dilation (1 and 8 cases respectively).

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