[ adj ] disdainfully or ironically humorous; scornful and mocking <adj.all> his rebellion is the bitter, sardonic laughter of all great satiristsa wry pleasure to be...reminded of all that one is missing
Sardonic \Sar*don"ic\, a. Of, pertaining to, or resembling, a kind of linen made at Colchis.
Sardonic \Sar*don"ic\, a. [F. sardonique, L. sardonius, Gr. ?, ?, perhaps fr. ? to grin like a dog, or from a certain plant of Sardinia, Gr. ?, which was said to screw up the face of the eater.] Forced; unnatural; insincere; hence, derisive, mocking, malignant, or bitterly sarcastic; -- applied only to a laugh, smile, or some facial semblance of gayety.
Where strained, sardonic smiles are glozing still, And grief is forced to laugh against her will. --Sir H. Wotton.
The scornful, ferocious, sardonic grin of a bloody ruffian. --Burke.
{Sardonic grin} or {Sardonic laugh}, an old medical term for a spasmodic affection of the muscles of the face, giving it an appearance of laughter.
Peter Coleman-Wright (the dashingly sardonic Giovanni) and Arwel Huw Morgan (the wrily witty Leporello), veterans of the previous revival, play to and with each other in excellently knowing fashion.
As in the best of such pieces there is a variety of styles and attitudes: a haunting lullaby to a poem by WH Auden, conjuring its nocturnal spell over an irregular rocking rhythm, is followed by a crisp and sardonic Stevie Smith setting.
Along the way she falls in love with the CIA's sardonic Istanbul bureau chief and an Armenian patriot, Aram Antoyan.
An unseemly number of grown-ups have adopted the show, too, drawn to its sardonic and satirical bent.