What Is Irony? (With Examples)

207 thoughts on “What Is Irony? (With Examples)”

1. For a current events example, is this situational irony?

   An Amish man with the last name of Mullet was convicted of violent crimes in relation to hair cutting.

   Someone told me it wasn’t ironic but I think it’s situational irony not only because his name happens to be the name of a no-longer-popular-hair-style that people still love to ridicule, but also because it’s unexpected for Amish people to behave violently, and certainly, because haircutting is generally not considered a hate crime.

   Or is this simply a funny coincidence?

2. “Terry on March 11, 2011 12:30 pm

   Ok I did not read all 50 responses… please don’t hate me

   But it IS ironic that Alanis wrote a song about irony with examples that were not irony……

   am i correct ?”

   If it wasn’t ironic, would it make it even MORE ironic that she meant it to be ironic yet it isn’t ironic? Oh my!

3. @J: literally is…an expression which means “figuratively” but with added exaggeration. No, it’s not. Literally does not mean that, even if people misuse it because they think it does.
   dustandwater did a good job of responding to this.
   “Raining cats and dogs” has no relation at all to the question here. It is simply an abstract expression. Not only is it not raining cats and dogs, but it is not even raining “like” or “as if” it were cats and dogs. It is not ironic, not literal, and it is not even figurative. It is simply nonsensical, nevertheless idomatic.

4. I haven’t read all of the comments to see if somebody has already pointed this out, but there are other ways the Facebook situation could be ironic. This could also be ironic if the video unexpectedly went viral. In that case it’s ironic because Facebook turned out to be useful.

   Otherwise I agree that merely posting the video on Facebook isn’t ironic. It’s not ironic because the premise of the video is that Facebook is boring and useless. Merely posting it on Facebook can’t be ironic unless the outcome has something to do with that.

   For example, posting the video on Facebook could also be ironic if the video was useful and entertaining. In that case, it would be ironic because posting the video on Facebook would make Facebook useful and entertaining.

   The fundamental problem with irony I think is that there are multiple definitions that make it confusing to some and it also must involve a level of interpretation. An ironic situation is not fundamentally ironic by itself, the irony in a situation is found by interpreting it.

   An example of the interpretation is the raining on a wedding day example from the Alanis Morissette song which somebody has already pointed out. Just having it rain on your wedding day is not ironic. Having it rain on your wedding day when you picked that day specifically because the weather report said it would not rain is ironic. It’s ironic because there is a reversal of expectations. Your action of picking a day to prevent rain is what caused the rain in the first place. Irony is something that you “find” in a situation by interpreting it. Alanis Morisette didn’t give us enough information to see whether or not there is irony in the situation. Her wedding situation is not ironic because a wedding day and whether or not it rains do not necessarily have anything to do with each other, not because the situation fundamentally can’t be ironic.

   Lots of people are confused about what “is” and “is not” irony and that’s just not how it works. Whether or not something is ironic requires enough information to interpret it as such and most real-life irony is more complicated than just “x happened instead of y”.

   The Facebook and theology test examples are both like that. There are all kinds of ways those two situations COULD be ironic but they do not give us enough information to decide. It is because the authors of those situations do not fully understand what irony is and did not give us the right information. Their situations may very well be very ironic but they did not tell us about the parts that could make them ironic.

   Irony is not a kind of situation, it is an interpretation of a situation.

   Somebody also asked about the procrastinator’s meeting and I also wonder about that. I don’t think a procrastinators putting off their meeting is ironic. They are procrastinators, we can expect that they will put things off and it’s not ironic when they do.

   If there is a meeting SPECIFICALLY for people that DON’T procrastinate and THEY put off the meeting, THEN it’s ironic. It’s ironic because our expectations about what is have been reversed. The sign doesn’t tell us enough about the situation for us to know whether or not it’s ironic. It’s just as “ironic” or “not ironic” as Alanis Morissette’s situations.

   Also, sarcasm IS a form of irony. Sarcasm is irony because there is disparity between what is stated and what is intended. The reasons some people think sarcasm isn’t irony are (1) that it’s so widespread and easy to assume that everybody is in on it but that doesn’t matter and (2) that, like irony, most don’t understand what sarcasm actually is.

   On (1), for everyone to understand the meaning of the statement they must know there is an intended disparity. It doesn’t matter if everybody in the room does or doesn’t, the mere fact that they have to know there is a disparity is what makes sarcasm a form of irony.

   And on (2), sarcasm isn’t just “the opposite of what you say” as in “hey, that’s good” where good means bad. The statement is sarcastic because it SOUNDS like a compliment but is INTENDED as an insult. There are also other ways of being sarcastic that are not just an opposite meaning. An example of this is the phrase “don’t work too hard” which doesn’t mean “work harder”, it is a sarcastic jab at the worker’s perceived laziness. Sarcasm is when there is disparity between statement and intent and it is a form of irony.

5. My understanding of the definition of irony is, “A chain of events in which there is some sort of twist of opposite or backfire in the end” for example, a fire station burns down, or a cop gets arrested. An even better example would be the majority of people who incorrectly use this word in an attempt to sound more intelligent, when in fact they accomplish just the opposite. As for the song by Alanis Morissette, I certainly find it ironic that a song intended to describe irony and yet none of the examples given in the song are ironic at all, is, in and of itself ironic.

6. I find it very interesting that your first and fourth examples are essentially identical but provoke opposite responses. I’ve taken the liberty to rewrite the fourth example to clarify the similarity.

   Is it ironic that I posted a video about how boring and useless Facebook is on Facebook?
   Reader’s Verdict: 93% NOT IRONIC; 7% IRONIC. Final Verdict: NOT IRONIC.

   Is it ironic that someone posts on Facebook and you make fun of them… and the next thing you know – YOU post on Facebook!?
   Reader’s Verdict: 94% IRONIC; 6% NOT IRONIC. Final Verdict: IRONIC.

7. “ironic” by Alanis Morissette (and whether or not her lyrics are, in fact, ironic):
   “An old man, turned 98, he won the lottery and died the next day”
   –this IS ironic bc most people expect that if they had won the lottery they’d live to enjoy their winnings. The old man’s death is the opposite expectation that most of us have.
   “It’s like rain on your wedding day”
   –IS ironic because in planning for a wedding most people try to plan around rainy days… It doesn’t always work but most people in hopeful expectation don’t want it to rain.
   “It’s the free ride that you already paid”
   –NOT ironic unless under certain circumstances. Had the person known about the freeness of the ride prior to paying for it but for whatever reason (intoxication, forgetfulness, etc) paid for it anyway would constitute irony upon said person’s realization what they had done.
   “It’s the good advice that you just didn’t take”
   –NOT irony in any way, shape, or form.
   “Life as a funny way of sneaking up on you when you think everything’s okay and everything goes right and life has a funny way (inaudible) when everything goes wrong and everything blows up in your face”
   –irony would be the exact opposite of this but by her actually saying this IS ironic. I suspect that she meant it that way. Clever lady.
   “Traffic jam when you’re already late”
   –NOT irony. Just misfortune.
   “No smoking sign on your cigarette break”
   –IS irony if said person always go to the same smoking area and they expect no no smoking sign because it wasn’t there the last time they smoked there.
   “It ‘s like 10,000 spoons when all you need is a knife”
   –INCONCLUSIVE. If the person were looking in a drawer labeled “knives” then yes, this would be irony.
   “It’s meeting the man of my dreams and then meeting his beautiful wife”
   –IS irony by the social construction ingrained in our perceived expectation of what “the man/woman of my dreams” means to our society and by assuming that a woman’s beauty is what is able to “catch and keep a man” which is also a social construction. Alanis is merely playing on unjust societal expectations.

   So, taken for face value, Alanis barely makes any ironic statements but when you extrapolate upon the meaning that she conveys all of her statements are, in fact, ironic. (With the exception of already being late and winding up in a traffic jam… Most people don’t expect to get there on time when they’re already late regardless of traffic. Good try, Alanis).

8. Oh, I forgot “not taking good advice” in my summary… Not ironic Alanis.

9. There is one example of irony that made it crystal clear to me in high school, and that is this statement:

   “It’s easy to quit smoking cigarets. I’ve done it 10 times already!”

   Chew on that one for a while 🙂

10. Is it ironic that the name of Britain’s biggest dog (until it died recently) was Tiny?

    On this, it is worth noting the rhetorical device known as antiphrasis, which is basically often one word irony:
    ‘Come here, tiny!’ said the boy to the zoo’s largest gorilla.

11. How about the Paul Walker car wreck? Lot’s of people imply that it’s ironic (because his F&F character was a skilled driver).

    I say it would have been ironic had he died on a slow-moving trolley ride, because this is totally incongruous to the high-risk, high-speed nature of his film persona.

12. “It’s easy to quit smoking cigarets. I’ve done it 10 times already!”
    That’s not ironic. But I think it is illustrative of the overall problem here.

13. Irony is the opposite of what you would expect.

    It would be ironic if it rained on a weatherman’s wedding day.

    My question is “Is it ironic that the word misspelled is often misspelled?”

14. This post from Guest author seems to be irony itself. The author presents a situation where he pretends not to know what is actually ironic, and everyone cries about it because he is providing information on what counts as being ironic.

    Is it possible that we may be characters in a dramatic irony?

    It’s also ironic when someone says people do not know much about irony and they do; but instead uses sarcasm for the “supposed” ironic statement -that the language misfits are in good company.

    What is not ironic is studying for a theological exam instead of going to church. As pointed out in one of the replies, it would only be ironic if the topic being preached may help with the exam: this is not the situation nor is it assumed to be.

    Studying theology for anexam is like being in church with even better rewards. You will be tested, and it’s not shared knowledge where in small groups members help out.

15. Isn’t it ironic that unique commenters repeat each other, like the SHEEPLE THEY ARE??!!!! Jk. I know that’s not irony.

    One thing I’ve found annoying, in reading 90% of the nearly 200 comments above (!), is that so many people blow off certain “potential examples of irony” as “just coincidences”. The puddle example is not “just a coincidence”. A coincidence is when you run into an old friend on the other side of the globe, but no one would ever attempt to call that “ironic”. If the puddle example is not ironic, perhaps it is just a “coincidental comeuppance”, like someone above dubbed it, but it’s not “just a coincidence”.

    There were many insightful and helpful comments (and many not so much, but good for a laugh nonetheless), but I’ll follow up on J’s posts, which I liked. He asked the question, “If the Facebook example is not irony, then what is it?” He didn’t ask that entirely rhetorically, because he allowed that this example might be distinct from the “true definition of irony”. But what would you call this example? Would you call it hypocrisy? That doesn’t do it justice. Though it is hypocritical, so is saying “don’t cheat on your girlfriend, bra” and then cheating on your girl (I mean your woman… that’s for le feministe). But this is more than that. I like J’s point that if he were to post it, he could rightly say, “the irony is not lost on me”. If we can’t strictly call it “ironic”, let’s call it “ironish”.

    But I especially liked J’s example of the word “literally”.

    Venqax, your first posts had me going “like”, but your response to this one had me going “downvote”. The whole response wasn’t utterly incorrect, and all in all, you make a valid point, but your sarcastic example of “nukylar as an alternative pronunciation of nuclear” kind of brings home J’s point. You were citing this example as “pah! the ignoramus can continue in his ignorance, but I’ll see it as such and call him out on it. It’s still W-R-O-N-G WRONG.” But what about words where there are two “dictionary-acceptable” pronunciations? The second pronunciation has been around long enough so that it made it into the dictionary. Probably the only way that the second pronunciation came about was that some group of people were pronouncing it “incorrectly”. Haven’t you ever heard the saying, “There’s no wrong way to eat a Reese’s”? Were you one of those kids who insisted that your way was the only way such a buttercup?

16. I wasn’t finished. I accidentally hit send.

    But I was trying to be funny with the Reese’s cup reference.

    But J is right that “literally” is used as an expression for adding emphasis. When you were a kid, didn’t you ever say to your little brother, when you caught him snooping through your things, “I’m going to kill you. No, seriously, I am going to kill you.” Or when you were little bit older, “I am literally going to kill you.” Probably most of the people who use “literally” “incorrectly” could tell you the literal definition of “literal”. So, their use of “literal” is not wrong in the same way that other grammatical mistakes are. It’s more like when a snowboarder says, “that was the sickest landing you could ever imagine”. Of course, you can probably imagine a sicker landing–one where the snowboarder’s impact with the ground causes him to regurgitate all of his Campbell’s beef stew from lunch–but you probably wouldn’t fault him for the use of the superlative. Now, if he took it one step further, and added “that was literally the sickest landing”, would you fault him? All I can say is that “literally” is literally the best word for adding emphasis to a sentence. (Besides fifty exclamation marks, of course.)

    I am reminded of some points by the author of “The Adventure of English”. (It’s a great book; I’m sure all of you English nerds would love it.) In the book, the author writes about the struggle to define and maintain English, to enhance it and to keep it pure. While many of these efforts were laudable, he also paints the picture of how language could be used by elitists to demarcate the classes. Challenging these tendencies was Joseph Priestley, who radically asserted that rules of grammar ought to be derived from common usage, rather than the dictates of any self-styled grammarians. So as you strive for clarity and precision in language usage, I commend everyone to resist the tendency to snobbery, and remember the saying, “There’s no wrong way… to eat Reese’s”. Thank you.

17. P.S., I didn’t mean that 90% of the comments were annoying, just that I had read 90% of them! and that that was something that annoyed me in several.

    And when I called people SHEEPLE, that was mostly just a joke. There were a lot of intelligent and interesting thoughts expressed.

18. 99% of Reader’s Verdicts are WRONG.

    For example:
    Is it ironic that I posted a video about how boring and useless Facebook is on Facebook?
    Reader’s Verdict: 93% NOT IRONIC; 7% IRONIC. Final Verdict: NOT IRONIC.

    This is definitely ironic. Here is WHY!::
    Irony 1:
    The speaker is presumed to AGREE with the video’s opinion that Facebook is boring and USELESS. Then the speak USES Facebook to share that video.
    Irony 2:
    The supposed MSG of the video says that Facebook is USELESS, but the video being shared and being Watched on Facebook MAY have UNintentionally implied that Facebook is USEFUL.

    MSG: Useless
    Reality: Useful

    This example is the VERY definition of irony.

    It is very ironic that 99% of the verdicts on isitironic.com are Wrong. It is ironic because it is supposed to be a site to help people know what is ironic and what isn’t. It instead is WORSE than no help at all. Which is ironic.

    Intend: Helpful
    Reality: Harmful

    The verdicts on isitironic.com only shows that people are dumb.

19. Sarcasm’s derivative meaning is “to tear the flesh.” Literally. (And I don’t mean that in some language-garbled misunderstanding of the meaning of the word “literally.”)

    So for posters who have suggested that sarcasm doesn’t have to be mean, I would make the suggestion that you rethink your position. Or consider that being witty and being sarcastic are not synonymous.

    As for irony, the descriptions of the two audiences in the comments are the best definitions of irony I’ve read by lay-people. They far surpass the weak original post. And no, that’s not ironic.

20. In the movie “Con Air”, where a group of convicts hijack a plane, they start celebrating during the flight to the tune of “Sweet Home Alabama” by Lynyrd Skynyrd. At the sight of this, Steve Buscemi’s character says, “Define irony. Bunch of idiots dancing on a plane to a song made famous by a band that died in a plane crash.”

    That sort of sums up my understanding of irony.

21. Rocker said:
    “Well, I guess the irony of this page is how many don’t understand irony at all. Serving Thanksgiving lunch the day after Thanksgiving is in NO WAY ironic. It’s just because they couldn’t do it on the day itself because it’s a holiday. Of course it would make more sense to serve it the day before, but really, who’s counting?
    Uploading video onto FB about how boring and useless FB is: not ironic unless… the video itself is useless and boring.
    Calling big dog tiny: ironic. Much the same effect can be had by calling a small dog Killer or Tyson.
    Missing church to study for theology test: I think we are agreed this is not ironic, just poor planning.
    Stepping in puddle after mocking others: definitely not ironic, just coincidence. A lot of people confuse irony with coincidence, like the football commentators who tell us it’s ironic that a player scores against a club he used to play for. NO!
    There is an Irish comedian called Ed Byrne who made his early career based on using the Alanis Morrisette song as illustration that Americans didn’t understand irony. The irony of that was: she’s Canadian.”

    Except Byrne didn’t say that Americans didn’t understand irony.

22. I agree with Kat. I also agree with David. In my opinion the irony comes from the subjective interpretation of the statement not the statement itself. For me, the expectation of winning the lottery is that the winner will have time to do all the things they want to do and the money to do them. Most people that I have seen winning the lottery are younger to middle aged people. To die right after winning seems very ironic to me given the commercial expectation advertised.

    I think that same principle applies to the wedding day. Most people would expect their wedding day to be the happiest most perfect day of their lives so far. Having it rain on their most perfect day is directly opposite of what the wedding couple (and I) would be hoping and planning for. I live in a relatively dry area of the United States. So when someone describes a wedding day to me my initial expectation about the event is that it will be sunny and without rain. If you live in an area of the world where it rains every day and twice on Sunday then it would not be ironic for it to rain on a wedding day. You expect it to rain every day, so rain on a wedding day is normal and expected, and yet to me it is still ironic. So on that note, If I had my wedding at the North Pole because I expect it to never rain (only snow) and it rained wouldn’t that be ironic?

    I also like the cats and dogs example. I personally think it would be ironic if the man said its raining cats and dogs and the friend looks outside and it is actually raining cats and dogs (for whatever sci-fi reason). The irony is that no one expects it to actually be raining cats and dogs. They generally expect it to be raining (water, usually, but generally a liquid of some composition) really hard.

    I think the procrastinator example is not ironic. However if the example was “The procrastinator demanded his meeting start on time” I think it would be ironic. My subjective expectation is that the procrastinator’s meeting is always going to start late because of his procrastination on going to the meeting. Having him demand his meeting start on time when he is always late seems ironic to me.

    I am braced for the assault, so let the picking of nit begin.

23. I’m only 15 years old and I have always understood irony. Read the story The Interlopers. It’s a great example of irony. At the end (spoiler) the two feuding men, whom were trapped by a tree, believe that their men are coming to save them. After making amends with each other, they argue over who’s men will come first to show the greatest gratitude. As it turns out, the men that they see coming are actually a pack of wolves. It is ironic because it has a sudden twist that nobody expected.
    People often confuse the meaning of irony. Instead of realizing that irony is when something that is the opposite of what is expected occurs, many believe that coincidences are ironic.
    Dramatic irony is slightly different. In Romeo and Juliet, Juliet took the potion to make herself seem dead. Upon seeing her, Romeo kills himself. This is dramatic irony because the audience knows that Juliet is not dead while Romeo does not. This makes Romeo have a different reaction than expected.
    The church example used in the article is definitely not ironic. It is a mere coincidence. It is very common for people to confuse irony with coincidences.

24. Yeah, Ironic by Alanis Morissette (Now, would it have been ironic had I misspelled her surname while poking fun at her song …) always bring a wry grin to me, because there is not one thing ironic in the entire song. She should have named it “Murphy’s Law” and sang “Isn’t it just bad luck, don’t you think …” because every time she sings, “Isn’t it ironic, don’t you think …” I always think, “No.” in a deadpan tone. LOL. The moment I saw this article I wondered if that song would get mentioned. BTW: I like the song and have bought it as a single (Now, is it ironic …). Irony is often misunderstood and mistaken for misfortune (like a black fly in your chardonnay or a death row pardon two minutes too late …)

25. Ok. I think I’ve got it. The example of the man writing an article on the uselessness of Facebook and then using Facebook to post his article is not irony. It may be incongruous and is definitely hypocritical but in order to be irony the outcome must be opposite of the intent. The authors intent was to slam Facebook as being useless but it was also his intent to use Facebook to get his article read. So, the outcome didn’t surprise him. It wasn’t opposite of what he thought he was accomplishing. Now, if the article had been put on Facebook by someone else and a publisher from some famous magazine saw it on Facebook and liked it….thought it had merit etc…. and published it in his magazine, that would be ironic! The outcome of his article being published as a result of Facebook would not be what he expected. Does this make sense?

26. You silly little Americans. Don’t worry your pretty little heads about defining irony. You will never understand it no matter how many times you read Mirriam and Webster.

    Of course there is no irony in Alanis Morrisette’s song. Or is that ironic in itself? I’ll leave you with that to ponder. Although your minds will explode before you get the correct answer.

27. Assuming you are not a silly American, why don’t you enlighten us all as what irony is? None of the recognized authorities seem to agree, but they might be mere scholars or language experts. Not “Non-Americans” who carrying around in their heads all the wisdom that non-condition imparts to its victims.

28. To Emily-You have failed to grasp irony in even the slightest of terms. In fact your testament is just another example if the failures ever present in our education system.

29. Many of the examples provided above are not ironic situations. Think of it as such: The event that caused the action was intended to do the opposite. (Think Start Wars – By setting out to save his woman, Anakin set in motion the events that killed her. If he had NOT tried to save her, she WOULD have lived.) It’s a recursive, circular kind of process. Irony has nothing to do with sarcasm, and the Facebook example is KIND OF ironic, especially if the video was boring.

30. It seems to me that many of the examples in Alanis Morrisette’s song are at least Dramatic Irony; as in “the Gods laughing at your hopes and expectations being dashed”. So I’m with Emily (seven posts up) on that at least.

31. It’s funny, I mean, IRONIC that there are 10000’s of ironic events that occur every day and yet there’s not 1 simple explanation that can define what ‘ironic’ actually is…
    Describing irony so that it makes complete sense by stating 2 contradicting facts, that don’t actually describe a thing…?

32. As I recall, “What is irony?” became a popular question in the late 1980s and early ’90s. It had something to do with Generation X’s struggle to define itself in spite of commercial marketing demographics and in opposition to Baby Boomers. All at once, the particular and characteristic mode of communication favored by so-called Gen-X’ers was labeled “ironic.”

    Now, those in this cohort did tend to loathe (or fear) earnestness. This fear of abject sincerity may have stemmed from childhoods steeped in emotionally manipulative but well-meaning educational and commercial campaigns. Whatever the reason, an early cynicism developed among this cohort, and its members discovered that the easiest, most risk-free way to communicate with one another was via sarcasm.

    Over a few years, a sort of code was developed for communicating whole sets of competing ideas and philosophies. It was a kind of jargon or slang, but it didn’t fit earlier “teen slang” models, because it was filled with metaphor and relied on a shared set of common experiences that seemed obscure or even threatening to media professionals (who were a bit older, and therefore excluded).

    For the lack of a better term, these media professionals labeled the Gen-X mode of communication as “ironic.” And so, for a few years, anytime anybody would say something Gen-X-ey, they’d laugh about how “ironic” it was. (“Have you read Douglas Coupland’s new novel? It’s so ironic!”) And thus the word “ironic” lost its meaning.

    But then good people stepped in and drew our attention to the fact that “irony” has a specific meaning, going back to Greek theater and philosophy, and that there’s a very specific and restrictive definition of what constitutes it. So we had to start paying attention to what is, and what isn’t, ironic.

    Of course, all this happened long before social media. In fact, the Internet was still in its relative infancy. But still, I think this is why the “What Is Irony” website could continue to fulfill a very valuable service for years to come — at least until the last remaining members of Generation X die off (probably much to the relief of Millenials).

33. I came on this site to get a better idea for a way to best articulate the definition of “irony”; and, lol, there are nearly 3 years of explanations. Irony is something I can spot alright (I think), but cannot explain. I read the book of Esther during the feast of Purim and I believe I definitely identified some examples of irony. If anyone reads this blog to the end ever again with hopes of trying to better understand “irony”, then my “labor” is not in vain.
    In the book of Esther, an evil character, Haman, was summoned by the Persian King who wanted advice on how to honor someone who’d saved his life. He said to Haman, “What should be done for the man the king wishes to honor?” Haman, thinking that he, himself, was the “man” that the king wished to honor, advised the king to clothe this honoree with his own kingly robes and parade him through the square on the royal horse. The king approved his suggestion, and ordered him to do all that he described; only it was for another character, Mordecai. This story is wrought with irony. First, Haman was summoned by the king when he was already on his way to see him in order to persuade him that this Mordecai (someone who’d saved the king’s life earlier in this story) be hanged on a gallows that he (Haman) had built especially for this purpose. Why? Because Mordecai refused to bow to him. Also ironic, is that Mordecai was not only the man whom the king wished to honor, but he was also the cousin of Esther, Queen of Persia, whom he raised from her early childhood. In the end, Haman was hanged on the gallows he built for Mordecai.

34. Okay, I hope someone has mentioned this, but let’s clarify: Expecting one outcome and having the opposite is ironic, but things can also be ironic if they do not fit that definition. There is several types of irony. Verbal, situational, and dramatic. The definition I mentioned regarding the outcome was for situational irony. Verbal irony is meaning the opposite of what you say. This on many occasions can be sarcasm, however, some sarcasm is not verbally ironic. Dramatic irony is (loosely) when the audience knows more than the character. Using some examples I’ve seen here, the Hamlet scene, if the audience knew about his killing the wrong person, would be dramatic irony. It could be situationally ironic, I do not know because I have yet to read Hamlet. Saying the weather is nice, when it is not, is verbal irony because you are meaning that it is the opposite. The puddle example was indeed a coincidence, and had hardly anything to do with expectations, so like many assumed, it was not situational irony. I have heard about another type of irony, however, I do not know enough about it to teach the ignorant commenters. I only intend to point out that people are not realizing there are multiple types of irony, and are defining it by one definition.

35. If irony can be the misuse of a word for something other than its literal meaning, then doesn’t misusing irony make it ironic? I mean if you use the word irony to mean something other then it should, at that point doesn’t the word itself become ironic? So isn’t it difficult to actually misuse the word irony without making a conscious effort to?

36. Irony is simply “SARCASTIC HUMOR.” Think about it…the Facebook comment at the top is meant to be funny. This type of stuff is in practically every TVshow we watch…they’re filled with it and we eat it up. Not all Irony is funny to people thus taking the lower % on the “POPULAR SCALE RATIO”…but to be honest if there wasn’t any ever opposed life wouldn’t be as much fun….Ironically irony is why you are…who you are.

37. I think irony has come to mean this.
    “Coincidence or events that happen in correlation to the least desired results or least expected.” (Feel free to change that around anyway you want to make it make more sense. I’m by no means an expert on coming up with concise definitions or indeed explaining what I mean through just words instead of direct examples.)
    Meaning, rain on your wedding day if you wanted it to be sunny or it was supposed to be sunny, would fit in this description.
    The irony implied not needing to be directly opposite or the worst possible thing, but still an undesired outcome.

    There should just be a new term that means that if ironic is technically incorrect that goes in the vein of the term “That figures” used sardonically.

    The one that confused me the most was the paying for a bus that you find out was actually free. That seems like irony, but I would rather know if there is a proper term for that phenomenon.

    I agree with the person who said irony is in the same line as sarcasm, but usually refers to events that happen or should of happened as opposed to linguistical usage.

    Overall I would say irony has to do with expectation vs the opposite or something undesired happening instead.
    It’s usually a negative thing that either infuriates or makes someone think sarcastically how good it is to of happened.
    Someone pointed out that a traffic jam when already late doesn’t work because you did not expect there to be one. There was no expectation that the road would be clear, but it does go into the realm of “it figures” thinking, which I insist needs a term by itself. Because saying “It was so it figures that a traffic jam happened when I was already late.” just doesn’t work. People instead want to use “It was so ironic that a traffic jam happened when I was already late.” mostly because they don’t know what to use.
    I guess sardonically typical works, though it doesn’t flow well implying that it is an undesired outcome, but did not hold previous expectation for the outcome.

    Grrr, if anyone thinks of a good term, let me know. It’s annoying to be using words wrong that way, even if language is evolving and fluid, it sucks when meanings change due to a misunderstanding outright rather then morphing overtime.

38. After reading all of the comments, I am so confused.

39. Wow… a lot of ‘jibber jabber’ from a lot of brainiacs… the history of irony and and different types of irony… how people don’t understand it… and people trying to explain what it is…

    that last post….

    “I guess sardonically typical works, though it doesn’t flow well implying that it is an undesired outcome, but did not hold previous expectation for the outcome.”

    What?

    Use it in a sentence… give us an example… please.

40. Legal slavery within a free country is ironic

41. The dictionary has: incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of events and the normal or expected result.

    I think that’s the key, the incongruity. For example:

    A dog-catcher being hit by a truck hauling furniture is not ironic, just unfortunate.

    A dog-catcher being hit by a truck that is taking dogs to a local pet shop is closer to ironic, while also unfortunate.

    It’s the humorous aspect that I think some may not grasp. Irony isn’t simply a matter of misfortune. It is a misfortune that is incongruous, and therefore has a twinge of humor to it. The Far Side comic strip was full of irony, and some people ‘got it,’ while others did not. It’s the whole Coyote/Roadrunner scenario. It’s a bitter-sweet sort of thing.

42. irony is the opposite of wrinkly.

43. Would this class as irony? Your football team gets a penalty. Convinced that your teams regular taker will miss, you take it yourself and miss anyway

44. I find it ironic that I come here to receive clarity regarding the use and definition of irony with other people that would seemingly like to do the same and then there are so many people not willing to accept the correct answer. HaHaHa :’)

45. Procrastinators’ Meeting.

    I’m assuming there is more than one procrastinator. Also: not ironic.

46. This thread had me laughing so hard (I love you guys and all of your opinions)! I think the struggle is that people, and all forms of modern media, have used the word so loosely for so long, that almost everyone is thoroughly confused. Adding to the confusion, people start using the word ironic as if it’s synonymous with words like sarcasm and coincidence, but it’s not. And don’t even get me started on Alanis Morrisette and her brilliant lyrics…yeah, that was a *sarcastic* statement!

    As a long-time English professor and published writer and editor, I have a few thoughts on the topic and hope that they help anyone who is actually here looking for answers, not arguments. Again, these statements are based on the old-fashioned literal and technical English terminology and understanding, not the modern understanding that suits the masses.

    Irony certainly does include the incongruity between the actual result of an event and the expected result, meaning that things turned out differently than expected…BUT the true meaning of irony includes real cause and effect. Otherwise, it is just coincidence. Let’s use Alanis Morisette’s song as our example: If a man wins the lottery and then dies the next day, that is just an unfortunate COINCIDENCE. These two events coincidentally occurred, one right after the other, and led to an unfortunate result: death. Winning the lottery didn’t cause his death, right? It’s not ironic, it’s coincidence.

    Now, if that man played the lottery with the intent of winning and becoming rich and finding true friendship and happiness, and then he actually won the lottery and all of his friends begged and borrowed and made his life miserable…now THAT WOULD BE IRONIC. Winning the lottery was supposed to lead to his ultimate happiness, but the effect was actually nothing but misery. And that is true irony.

    Another part of her song will help clarify even more: rain on your wedding day. Is that irony? No, that is coincidence. It coincidentally rained on your wedding day, because weather can be unpredictable.

    Is having Thanksgiving lunch the day after Thanksgiving ironic? No, it’s just a decision made by the company owner because Thanksgiving day was a holiday and no one was at work. There’s no irony, there’s no cause and effect.

    Is creating a video about how boring and useless Facebook is and then posting it on Facebook ironic? Not at all. There’s no irony, there’s no incongruity between what you EXPECTED TO HAPPEN and what ACTUALLY HAPPENED based on cause and effect.

    If you’re ever curious about what true irony is, just ask yourself if the series of events happened coincidentally, or if something actually CAUSED A DIFFERENT OUTCOME than what was expected.

    Will everyone agree with me on this? Probably not, because the word ironic is used inappropriately by most people and in most professions on a daily basis, and everyone thinks that they know the true meaning. Is that ironic? Nope! Just coincidental!

47. What is wrong with this statement? It should just jump right off the page and bite. Y’all made my day! I’m sure the author will recognize:
    “I agree with the person who said irony is in the same line as sarcasm, but usually refers to events that happen or should of happened as opposed to linguistical usage.”
    Please, don’t anyone get your sphincter muscle all twisted. I’m just teasing. Imagine my surprise when I, an uneducated high school graduate, caught this among all this wisdom from college-trained professionals !

48. Irony use of words,the natural meaning of which is just the opposite of what is intended to be expressed. By this figure, therefore ,we say one thing but mean just the opposite.

    E.g. 1. He is Merry as a tombstone.

    2. He left me to the tender mercies of my enemy.

49. OK, so using movie examples: in ConAir when the serial killer looks at Nicholas Cage’s character and says: “Define Irony. A bunch of criminals on a plane singing a song by a band who died in a plane crash.” Is NOT ironic right?

50. I don’t think that quite makes it. People on a plane singing Lynard Skynard songs to take their minds off the fact that the plane might crash, that would make it, I think.

    Your safe was stolen. That would make it. Someone dies from an allergic reaction to health food or vitamins. The one passenger not wearing a seat belt gets tossed to safety from a burning car wreck.