of, resembling, relating to, or tasting much like iron

of, resembling, relating to, or tasting much like iron

In a scene from the 1994 film Reality Bites, the character Lelaina asks her friend Troy if he can define irony, to which he very quickly replies, “It's when the actual meaning is the complete opposite from the literal meaning.”

While that might be correct, the answer is unsatisfactory. That could define sarcasm, couldn’t it? And irony isn’t sarcasm. Is it?

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Oxford Dictionary – The expression of one's meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect.

Fowler's A Dictionary of Modern English Usage – Sarcasm does not necessarily involve irony and irony has often no touch of sarcasm.

Jonathan Lear, author of A Case for Irony – “[Irony] is being caught by something you already take yourself to believe in, and then the sudden sickening sense that the commitment is so much more demanding than you originally took it to be. You’re caught because the value matters to you, but then you come to see that your understanding up until now has been somewhat complacent. That’s the sting. “Whoa! What do I have to do now? Because on the one hand I’m already committed to it, and on the other I have a sudden glimpse that I don’t yet understand the it is that I’m already committed to but have a sense that it outstrips what I’m currently doing.”

Irony vs Sarcasm at differencebetween.net – Irony and sarcasm are often confused, which is understandable. In some cases, they are interchangeable. This is because sarcasm is a kind of irony, so all instances of sarcasm are irony, but not all instances of irony are sarcasm.

George Carlin – Irony is 'a state of affairs that is the reverse of what was to be expected; a result opposite to and in mockery of the appropriate result.' [I think he may have lifted this from an old Webster’s Dictionary.]

Eric Partridge in Usage and Abusage – Irony must not be confused with sarcasm, which is direct: sarcasm means precisely what it says, but in a sharp, caustic, ... manner.

For more information, see: situational irony, verbal irony, Socratic irony, historic irony, dramatic irony (with the subset of tragic irony), and cosmic irony.

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So now it should all be clear. You’re welcome!

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title taken from Urban Dictionary, images from Reality Bites