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

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
References in periodicals archive ?
After all, the old board had made the town a laughingstock and the focus of unwanted attention.
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Only Dona Marelvis treats laughingstock Mane with the charity his gentle nature deserves--he regularly gets beaten up by a local street gang and the sergeant drunkenly threatens him for the money he owes him.
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But when he ran again and again, without a realistic hope of winning, he became a laughingstock.
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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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Of course, it all goes wrong, since computers aren't infallible, and after making an all-too-public bid for Christine's affection Jeremy is once again a laughingstock.
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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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He, the Eternal Son of God, has become a laughingstock of His enemies.
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International contacts
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.
Georgia school board requires balance of evolution and bible. (News)
The former PC says she became a laughingstock following her father's phonecall to her boss.
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