travesty
- 01 C1 Advanced
n.a situation that is so bad or unfair that it is a joke compared to how things should be.
n.a grotesque or grossly inferior imitation; a situation that represents a complete failure of the standards it is supposed to uphold.
Simple“The trial was a travesty of justice because the judge was not fair.”
In context“Legal scholars argued that the summary judgment was a travesty of justice, as it ignored several key pieces of exculpatory evidence.”
UsageOften used in the fixed phrase 'a travesty of justice'.
Synonyms - 02 C2 Proficiency
n.a piece of writing or art that copies a serious work in a funny or silly way.
n.a literary or artistic work that ridicules a serious subject by using an incongruous style; a burlesque imitation.
Simple“The play was a travesty of the original Shakespeare story.”
In context“The satirist produced a biting travesty of the epic poem, mocking the hero's supposed virtues through absurd situations.”
Teacher's tipIn modern usage, this sense is less common than the 'failure of justice' sense; learners should use 'parody' for general humor.
- 03 C2 Proficiency
v.to copy something in a way that makes it look silly or bad.
v.to represent in a false or distorted way; to make a travesty of something.
Simple“The comedian travestied the politician's speech to make the audience laugh.”
In context“The documentary was criticized for the way it travestied the historical events it claimed to portray accurately.”
UsageThis is a transitive verb and requires a direct object.
From French travesti (“disguised, burlesqued”), past participle of travestir (“to disguise”), borrowed from Italian travestire (“to dress up, disguise”), from tra- (“across”) + vestire (“to dress”), from Latin vestiō (“to clothe, dress”), from Proto-Italic westis (“clothing”), from Proto-Indo-European wéstis (“dressing”) from verbal root *wes- (“to dress, clothe”); cognate to English wear. Doublet of travesti.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.