Tip - Is Ironic the Most Abused Word in English? | Dictionary.com Blog

"That is sooooo ironic." This sentence is used frequently — and usually incorrectly — in American English. Often the word “ironic” is misused to remark on a coincidence, such as "This is the third time today we’ve run into each other. How ironic." It is also mistakenly used to describe something out of the ordinary or unusual: "Yesterday was a beautiful, warm day in November. It was really ironic." And, unfortunately, it is sometimes used to simply emphasize something interesting. For example, "Ironically, it was the best movie I’ve seen all year!" We submit that ironic might be the most abused word in the English language. Even Alanis Morissette was called out for being too loose with the word in her 1995 hit "Ironic." The critics were so sharp that Morissette was forced to explain that she wasn’t trying to make every lyric in the song "technically ironic." So, what does the word really mean? And how do you make a proper ironic statement? An ironic remark conveys a meaning that is the
Tags: english,ironic,irony