What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Wry vs Mocking - What's the difference?

wry | mocking |

As adjectives the difference between wry and mocking

is that wry is turned away, contorted (of the face or body) while mocking is derisive or contemptuous.

As verbs the difference between wry and mocking

is that wry is to turn (away); to swerve or deviate while mocking is present participle of lang=en.

As a noun mocking is

action of the verb to mock

wry

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) wrien, from (etyl) . Compare awry, wriggle.

Adjective

(en-adj)
  • Turned away, contorted (of the face or body).
  • * 1837 , , The Pickwick Papers , ch. 17:
  • '"Why, you snivelling, wry -faced, puny villain," gasped old Lobbs.
  • * 1913 , , The Motion Picture Chums at Seaside Park , ch. 11:
  • “Humph! Had to,” said Pep with a wry grimace.
  • Dryly humorous; sardonic or bitterly ironic.
  • * 1871 , , The Haunted Baronet , ch. 6:
  • "[T]he master says a wry word now and then; and so ye let your spirits go down, don't ye see, and all sorts o' fancies comes into your head."
  • Twisted, bent, crooked.
  • Deviating from the right direction; misdirected; out of place.
  • * 1820 , , The Abbot , ch. 34:
  • Catherine hath made a wry stitch in her broidery, when she was thinking of something else than her work.
  • * 1876 , , The Works and Life of Walter Savage Landor , vol. IV, Imaginary Conversations, Third Series: Dialogues of Literary Men, ch. 6—Milton and Andrew Marvel, p. 155 (Google preview):
  • . . . the wry rigour of our neighbours, who never take up an old idea without some extravagance in its application.
    Derived terms
    * wryly * awry

    Verb

  • (obsolete) To turn (away); to swerve or deviate.
  • * 1535 , , Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulation , ch. 18:
  • God pricketh them of his great goodness still. And the grief of this great pang pincheth them at the heart, and of wickedness they wry away.
  • * , Cymbeline , act 5, sc. 1:
  • You married ones,
    If each of you should take this course, how many
    Must murder wives much better than themselves
    For wrying but a little!
  • (obsolete) To divert; to cause to turn away.
  • To twist or contort (the body, face etc.).
  • Etymology 2

    From (etyl) wryen, wrien, wreon, wrihen, from (etyl) .

    Verb

  • (obsolete) To cover; clothe; cover up; cloak; hide.
  • mocking

    English

    Verb

    (head)
  • Noun

    (en noun)
  • action of the verb to mock
  • Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • derisive or contemptuous
  • teasing or taunting
  • Derived terms

    * mockingbird * mocking thrush * mocking wren