laughingstock


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laughing stock

A person who is the subject of mockery after a blunder. If I mess up this speech, I'll be the laughing stock of the school!
See also: laugh, stock

make (someone, something, or oneself) a laughingstock

To subject someone or something to a mockery or ridicule; to make fun of someone or something. The president's decision to appoint TV personalities as her advisors has made our country a laughingstock of our country in front of the entire world. I felt I was making myself a laughingstock wearing such a silly costume in broad daylight.
See also: laughingstock, make

make a laughingstock of (someone, something, or oneself)

To subject someone or something to a mockery or ridicule; to make fun of someone or something. The president's decision to appoint TV personalities as her advisors has made a laughingstock of our country in front of the entire world. I felt I was making a laughingstock of myself, wearing such a silly costume in broad daylight.
See also: laughingstock, make, of

laughingstock

someone or something that is the target of ridicule. After he passed out at the president's dinner, he became the laughingstock of all his colleagues.

make a laughingstock of (oneself or something)

 and make (oneself or something) a laughingstock
to make oneself a source of ridicule or laughter; to do something that invites ridicule. Laura made herself a laughingstock by arriving at the fast-food restaurant in full evening dress. The board of directors made the company a laughingstock by hiring an ex-convict as president.
See also: laughingstock, make, of

make a laughingstock of

Lay open to ridicule, as in They made a laughingstock of the chairman by inviting him to the wrong meeting-place, or She felt she was making a laughingstock of herself, always wearing the wrong clothes for the occasion . The noun laughingstock replaced the earlier mockingstock and sportingstock, now obsolete. The idiom was first recorded in 1667.
See also: laughingstock, make, of

laughing stock

a person subjected to general mockery or ridicule.
See also: laugh, stock
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With a confident smirk, I would put my hand up--only to be reduced to the class laughingstock, stumbling over my words before I could even start my elaborately planned response.
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The obviously deceptive nutrition claims made about greasy fried chicken in these KFC ads made the campaign a national laughingstock," Jacobson says.
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They implored the board members not to adopt the policy, saying it would dilute the quality of science education and make graduates of the district the laughingstock of college admission offices.
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The former PC says she became a laughingstock following her father's phonecall to her boss.
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