i·ron·ic

(ī-rŏn′ĭk) also i·ron·i·cal (ī-rŏn′ĭ-kəl)

adj.

1. Characterized by or constituting irony.

2. Given to the use of irony.

3. Poignantly contrary to what was expected or intended: madness, an ironic fate for such a clear thinker.

4. Usage Problem Coincidental or improbable.

i·ron′i·cal·ly adv.

i·ron′i·cal·ness n.

Usage Note: In its nonliterary uses, irony refers to an incongruity between what is expected and what actually occurs, especially if what actually occurs seems designed to thwart or mock human wishes. For example, in the sentence Ironically, even as the government was fulminating against American policy, American jeans and videocassettes were the hottest items in the stalls of the market, the incongruity exemplifies human inconsistency. This sentence was approved by 92 percent of Usage Panelists in our 2016 survey. Sometimes, people misapply ironic, irony, and ironically to events and circumstances that might better be described as simply coincidental or improbable, with no particular lessons about human vanity or presumption. Resistance to such uses remains strong. In 1987, 78 percent of the Usage Panel rejected In 1967, Susan moved from Ithaca to California, where she met her husband-to-be, who, ironically, also came from upstate New York. In 2016, this same sentence was still rejected by 63 percent, though some Panelists noted that it might be acceptable in the right context: if Susan had moved to California to get away from New Yorkers, the irony could lie in the the folly of supposing we can know what fate has in store for us.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ironically

(aɪˈrɒnɪkəlɪ)

adv

1. (sentence modifier) it is ironic that: ironically, McCoist has never scored against Rangers.

2. in an ironic manner: I laughed ironically.

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Adv.	1.	ironically - contrary to plan or expectation; "ironically, he ended up losing money under his own plan"
	2.	ironically - in an ironic manner; "she began to mimic him ironically"

ironically

adverb

1. paradoxically, absurdly, incongruously, ambiguously, illogically, inconsistently, bafflingly Ironically, for a man who hated war, he made a superb war reporter.

2. sarcastically, mockingly, sardonically, acidly, wryly, sneeringly, trenchantly, satirically, acerbically, mordaciously His classmates ironically dubbed him 'Beauty'.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

Translations

بصورةٍ ساخِرَه

ironicky

ironiskt

ironikusan

kaldhæînislega, írónískt

ironicamente

ironisk nok

ironicky

alaycı/kinayeli bir şekilde

冷嘲地

ironically

[aɪˈrɒnɪkəlɪ] ADV → irónicamente; [say etc] → con ironía
ironically enough → paradójicamente, como quiso la suerte

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

ironically

[aɪˈrɒnɪk^əli] adv

[say] → ironiquement

(= surprisingly) ironically ... → l'ironie veut que ...
Ironically, the best one I read was also the oldest → L'ironie veut que le meilleur de ceux que j'ai lus était aussi le plus ancien.

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

ironically

adv → ironisch; and then, ironically enough, he turned up → komischerweise or witzigerweise (inf) → tauchte er dann auf; and then, ironically, it was he himself who had to do it → und dann hat ausgerechnet er or und dann hat paradoxerweise er es tun müssen

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

ironically

[aɪˈrɒnɪk/əlɪ] adv → ironicamente
ironically ... → per ironia...

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

irony

(ˈaiərəni) – plural ˈironies – noun

1. a form of deliberate mockery in which one says the opposite of what is obviously true.

2. seeming mockery in a situation, words etc. The irony of the situation was that he stole the money which she had already planned to give him.

ironic(al) (aiˈronik(l)) adjective

iˈronically adverb

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

"Have you ever seen the moon?" asked a professor, ironically, of one of his pupils.

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"Come in," said one of them, ironically, "and partake of your favourite dish, a haunch of mutton."

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At the point which I had reached in a preceding paragraph of this account, the situation was as follows: two horses lay dying; the bull had scattered his persecutors for the moment, and stood raging, panting, pawing the dust in clouds over his back, when the man that had been wounded returned to the ring on a remount, a poor blindfolded wreck that yet had something ironically military about his bearing - and the next moment the bull had ripped him open and his bowls were dragging upon the ground: and the bull was charging his swarm of pests again.

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Pay my bill and sneak off at once to the next town; but how pass through the grinning line of boots, and waiter, and chambermaid, and ironically respectful landlord and landlady, in the hall .

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Did he intend, she asked ironically, to wait for the very eve of the entry into Madrid?

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The Judge and some friends set Tom to talking, and some one asked him ironically if he wouldn't like to go to the cave again.

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She--and how many more--might have ironically said to God with Saint Augustine: "Thou hast counselled a better course than Thou hast permitted."

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"D'you suppose we shall ever meet in London?" said Ridley ironically. "You'll have forgotten all about me by the time you step out there."

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"Then, you would have me throw all my money into the coffers of the king!" cried Mazarin, ironically; and from whom, at the same time, the gout forced painful moans.

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Mosey answered ironically. "But for all that, you persist in sending me away."

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Mr Jones and Partridge, or Little Benjamin (which epithet of Little was perhaps given him ironically, he being in reality near six feet high), having left their last quarters in the manner before described, travelled on to Gloucester without meeting any adventure worth relating.

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"Well, I'm listening to what's to come," she said, calmly and ironically; "and indeed I listened with interest, for I should like to understand what's the matter."

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