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Mirth vs Jeer - What's the difference?

mirth | jeer | Related terms |

As nouns the difference between mirth and jeer

is that mirth is the emotion usually following humour and accompanied by laughter; merriment; jollity; gaiety while jeer is a railing remark or reflection; a scoff; a taunt; a biting jest; a flout; a jibe; mockery.

As a verb jeer is

to utter sarcastic or mocking comments; to speak with mockery or derision; to use taunting language.

mirth

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • The emotion usually following humour and accompanied by laughter; merriment; jollity; gaiety.
  • * 1883 ,
  • And he began to laugh again, and that so heartily, that, though I did not see the joke as he did, I was again obliged to join him in his mirth.
  • *, title=The Mirror and the Lamp
  • , chapter=2 citation , passage=She was a fat, round little woman, richly apparelled in velvet and lace, […]; and the way she laughed, cackling like a hen, the way she talked to the waiters and the maid, […]—all these unexpected phenomena impelled one to hysterical mirth , and made one class her with such immortally ludicrous types as Ally Sloper, the Widow Twankey, or Miss Moucher.}}
  • * 1912 , :
  • Their eyes met and they began to laugh. They laughed as children do when they cannot contain themselves, and can not explain the cause of their mirth to grown people, but share it perfectly together.
  • That which causes merriment.
  • * 1922 ,
  • Phantasmal mirth , folded away: muskperfumed.

    Synonyms

    * (emotion) delight, glee, hilarity, jollity

    Antonyms

    * (emotion) sadness, gloom

    Derived terms

    * mirthful * mirthfulness * mirthless * mirthlessly * mirthlessness

    jeer

    English

    Etymology 1

    Perhaps a corruption of ).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A railing remark or reflection; a scoff; a taunt; a biting jest; a flout; a jibe; mockery.
  • * 1711 , , The Fable of Midas, in The Works of Jonathan Swift , D.D., Vol XII, Sir Walter Scott, ed., Edinburgh: Archibald Constable and Co., 1824, pages 302-5,
  • Midas, exposed to all their jeers , Had lost his art, and kept his ears.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To utter sarcastic or mocking comments; to speak with mockery or derision; to use taunting language.
  • * ,
  • But when he saw her toy and gibe and jeer .
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2011 , date=October 1 , author=Phil McNulty , title=Everton 0 - 2 Liverpool , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=At the end of a frantic first 45 minutes, there was still time for Charlie Adam to strike the bar from 20 yards before referee Atkinson departed to a deafening chorus of jeering from Everton's fans.}}
  • (archaic) To mock; treat with mockery; to taunt; to flout.
  • * Ben Jonson
  • And if we cannot jeer' them, we ' jeer ourselves.
    Synonyms
    * (to utter sarcastic remarks) scoff, sneer * (to treat with scoffs) deride, flout, gibe, mock, ridicule

    Etymology 2

    Compare (gear).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (nautical) A gear; a tackle.
  • (nautical, in the plural) An assemblage or combination of tackles, for hoisting or lowering the yards of a ship.
  • *
  • Derived terms
    * jeer capstan