What does satirical mean?
Word: Satirical
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: Satirical means using humour to show up the silly or foolish side of people, ideas or events.
Synonyms: ironic
How do you spell satirical?
Syllables: sa - tir - i - cal
Tricky part: The vowel after the t is said so lightly that pupils write a or e there.
Watch out for: satarical, saterical, satirikal
Memory tip: Hold on to satire, the kind of writing behind this word. Its i never changes.
Satirical in a sentence
Example 1: The school magazine ran a satirical column on the canteen's never-changing menu.
Example 2: Her satirical sketch of a very long staff meeting made even the principal laugh.
Example 3: Satirical cartoons can say in one drawing what an article says in a page.
Fun Fact
Punch, a British magazine first published in 1841, was famous for more than a century for its satirical cartoons.
Practise the CREST Way
Spell-o-Spell
Three words in the list are spelt correctly and one is misspelt. Choose the meaning of the misspelt word.
1. hyperbole 2. rhetoric 3. satiricle 4. colloquial
a) poking fun at people in power or at society
b) a claim stretched well beyond the truth
c) suited to everyday conversation
d) the art of persuasive speaking
Show answer
a) poking fun at people in power or at society. The ending is wrong on this one; colloquial, rhetoric and hyperbole need no change.
Word Cookie
Insert the correct pair of letters to form a word:
s_tir_cal
a) a, e
b) a, y
c) a, i
d) e, i
Show answer
c) a, i. This adjective opens like sat, and the letter after the r is the one in comical.
Word Cookie
Find the extra letter in the word:
sattirical
a) c
b) r
c) t
d) l
Show answer
c) t. Only one t follows the opening vowel, just as in satin.
Word Connection
Choose the synonym of the word satirical as used in the sentence:
Priya's satirical poem about long school assemblies won the loudest applause of the evening.
a) respectful
b) mocking
c) tearful
d) factual
Show answer
b) mocking. The poem makes fun of assemblies, and that is the idea to look for.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which of these is most likely to be satirical?
a) a table of train times from London to Paris
b) a chart of rainfall for the coming monsoon
c) a cartoon showing ministers as squabbling pupils
d) a recipe for coconut cake and biscuits
Show answer
c) a cartoon showing ministers as squabbling pupils
2. A magazine prints a satirical piece about school exams. What is the writer hoping readers will do?
a) laugh and then think again about the system
b) buy the new textbooks from the publisher
c) note the dates of next year's papers
d) send in their marks for the school record
Show answer
a) laugh and then think again about the system
