Derision vs. Mockery — What's the Difference?

Contemptuous ridicule or mockery

Mockery or mocking is the act of insulting or making light of a person or other thing, sometimes merely by taunting, but often by making a caricature, purporting to engage in imitation in a way that highlights unflattering characteristics. Mockery can be done in a lighthearted and gentle way, but can also be cruel and hateful, such that it "conjures images of corrosion, deliberate degradation, even subversion; thus, 'to laugh at in contempt, to make sport of' (OED)".

The act of ridiculing or laughing at someone or something.

Scornfully contemptuous ridicule; derision.

A state of being derided

A specific act of ridicule or derision

Act of treating with disdain.

An object of scorn or ridicule

Something to be derided; a laughing stock.

A false, derisive, or impudent imitation

The act of deriding, or the state of being derided; mockery; scornful or contemptuous treatment which holds one up to ridicule.

Something ludicrously futile or unsuitable

An object of derision or scorn; a laughing-stock.

The action of mocking; ridicule, derision.

Contemptuous laughter

Something so lacking in necessary qualities as to inspire ridicule; a laughing-stock.

The act of deriding or treating with contempt

(obsolete) Something insultingly imitative; an offensively futile action, gesture etc.

Mimicry, imitation, now usually in a derogatory sense; a travesty, a ridiculous simulacrum.

The act of mocking, deriding, and exposing to contempt, by mimicry, by insincere imitation, or by a false show of earnestness; a counterfeit appearance.

Insulting or contemptuous action or speech; contemptuous merriment; derision; ridicule.

Subject of laughter, derision, or sport.

Showing your contempt by derision

A composition that imitates somebody's style in a humorous way

Humorous or satirical mimicry