FromFrenchtravesti(“disguised, burlesqued”), past participle oftravestir(“to disguise”), borrowed fromItaliantravestire(“to dress up, disguise”), fromtra-(“across”) +vestire(“to dress”), fromLatinvestiō(“to clothe, dress”), fromProto-Italic*westis(“clothing”), fromProto-Indo-European*wéstis(“dressing”) from verbal root*wes-(“to dress, clothe”); cognate toEnglishwear.Doublet oftravesti.
- enPR:trăvʹĭs-tē,trăvʹəs-tē,IPA(key): /ˈtɹæv.ɪs.ti/,/ˈtɹæv.əs.ti/
- Hyphenation:trav‧es‧ty
travesty (pluraltravesties)
- Anabsurd,grotesque,misrepresentative or grossly inferior likeness or imitation.
A battlefield trial is atravesty of justice.
1845,Thomas De Quincey,William Godwin:The second edition is not a recast, but absolutely atravesty of the first.
2022 January 12, Dr. Joseph Brennan, “Castles: ruined and redeemed by rail”, inRAIL, number948, page56:In 1844, objection was raised to the Furness Railway's Dalton & Barrow line, when it was revealed that the line would pass directly through Furness Abbey. A re-route was achieved, with the line skirting the abbey ruins instead - although many continued to see the intrusion as atravesty against antiquity and the scenic beauty of the site.
- Apastiche,parody, or stylistic imitation; aburlesque literary or artistic imitation (typically of a more serious work).
- (sometimes proscribed) Anappalling event, situation or outcome (especially in relation to another outcome to which it is grossly inferior).
2018 February 10, Phil McNulty, “Tottenham Hotspur 1 - 0 Arsenal”, inBBC[1]:Spurs survived the scare - and such was their domination after the break that it would have been atravesty had Arsenal escaped Wembley, hosting a Premier League record attendance of 83,222, with a draw.
An absurd or grotesque misrepresentation
A parody or stylistic imitation.
A grossly inferior imitation.
travesty (third-person singular simple presenttravesties,present participletravestying,simple past and past participletravestied)
- (transitive) To make a travesty of; toparody.
- “travesty”, inWebster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.:G. & C. Merriam,1913,→OCLC.
- William Dwight Whitney,Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “travesty”, inThe Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.:The Century Co.,→OCLC.
- “travesty”, inOneLook Dictionary Search.
- Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “travesty”, inOnline Etymology Dictionary.
