Parodied

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Imitated in a humorous or mocking way to make fun of someone or something
2. Copied or mimicked with exaggerated humor to criticize or satirize a person, style, or work
3. Reproduced humorously by exaggerating or distorting features to ridicule the original

Etymology: "Parodied" is the past tense and past participle of "parody," so the story belongs to the noun. In ancient Greek, "parōidia" meant something like a song sung alongside another, built from "para" ("beside") and "ōidē" ("song"). The original sense was a parallel or counter-song, a piece that reworked an existing melody or poem with altered words. That sense of working beside an original and bending it for effect is the seed of the modern meaning. The word passed into Latin as "parodia" and eventually into English, where it kept the idea of imitation with a twist. What changed was the purpose. The Greek term described a kind of song composition, while English speakers came to use it for mockery, where the copying itself becomes the joke and the target is whatever is being imitated.

Synonyms: satirized, mocked, ridiculed