How To Use Irony In A Sentence

His work is thus marked with a bitter irony which permeated not only the substance of his theory but also its method.
It is a cruel fashion irony, but a shapeless dress looks good only on a shapely body. Times, Sunday Times
‘Irony’ in its original form is the will of the fates or gods played out through the lives of mortals.
The irony in Anglicanism’s devotion to its new substitute god, inclusivity, is that the only thing those who are not excluded have in common is that they are with a bunch of other people who are also not excluded. Diocese of Toronto: a Good Friday exclusive « Anglican Samizdat
He was sharply perceptive and had an earthy, sly humour which put an edge on his nice irony.

The irony is that the new tax system will burden those it was intended to help.
She tried to ignore the heavy irony in his voice.
The irony being, if Spurs do become legitimate contenders for the title and pip City to it, therefore Man City sponsor their own downfall. NEWS.com.au | Top Stories
A diplomatic source said: 'The irony is that the royal family has used oil to slow down social change. Times, Sunday Times
The irony was wasted on the Americans as they swarmed down the crumbling alleys.
Then you take them home and by divers evil arts turn them into lamp bases, photo frames and, oh, irony - bookends.
Humour and melancholy, sincerity and irony are as balanced as a health freak's diet.
The people who live here are belittled with irony and satire for their neat ambitions and their careful pleasures. Times, Sunday Times
There is a splendid tale of the latter, his pen dripping in irony and vitriol, composing a letter to the United board congratulating them on their ground improvements in the aftermath of his own promises to build a new stadium.
She points out that there is some irony in living in a "Lake House" without a lake and even though, as I pedantically remind her, the word lake is Anglo-Saxon for "running stream," which we do have, and not a standing body of water, which we don't, her logic does not escape me. Broken Music, A Memoir
The irony, of course, is that the English, thoroughly mongrelized as they are, have not a clue what their own national identity might be. Blue, White, Red
The sad irony of it all is that God's infinite mercifulness extends to the nether limits where our present breed of politicians abound.
This is a particularly cruel irony because as the 1911 census revealed doctors had the smallest families of all categories of occupations.
One final irony: In 1950, at age 82, Millikan published his Autobiography, with Chapter 9 entitled simply "The Experimental Proof of the Existence of the Photon--Einstein's Photoelectric Equation.
The long-noted irony is that turn-of-the-century exponents of Zionism like Nordau and Herzl were thoroughly assimilated Jews. Bloodlust
It indicates how the effects of suspense, eeriness and horror is established perfectly through the use of irony.
What kind of cruel irony embedded this peace directive in the very source of my discontent? Christianity Today
But there is an irony in the identification of his body. Times, Sunday Times
The language is a wild mixture of vaquero-cowboy Spanglish and the King James Bible — you ' ll find words like " pulverulence " and " sudorific, " and one character says, without a shred of irony: " Lo, would you behold what has arrived? Southwestern Gothic
The irony is, if you had used the element in the first place, pressing the Return key would have actually worked.
But they quickly realised the judge had done them a great disservice and that his report hinged on a massive irony.
The irony gets a little heavy-handed - one of the baldies discovers love while picking up an anorexic chick in the hospital cafeteria - but the sentiment is genuine.
Maybe the boffins could have detected a trace of irony in the way she said it. Times, Sunday Times
The irony being, of course, that climbing on the new wall would be considerably safer than soloing on the existing facilities.
This is plainly ludicrous, and if the transgressors don't learn their lesson soon, the rest of us will certainly appreciate the irony when they're surviving on their children's benefits.
The"irony and esteem"presented two sides of researching the art of Anselm Kiefer .
His flashes of light-hearted humour were commonly tinged with an awesome critical irony.
There is a brutal irony about his retirement accommodation. Times, Sunday Times
There was a touch of irony/humour in her voice.
Many people know this part of the story but fail to realize the irony of God choosing Moses to do such a tremendous task in freeing the Israelites and disseminating such an important message. Ryan Mack: Man vs. Message: What We Can Learn from the Eddie Long Story
His voice is not tinged by irony or scurrility; it reveals instead a mixture of insolence and bewilderment. The Times Literary Supplement
It is impossible for a modern author to create the necessary tone for an epic without lapsing into irony, because the material conditions preclude the creation of new myths.
It is pretty clear that they were to some extent under the influence of pique and irritation when they noticed his deviations from the established faith, and applied to him the epithet of "babbler;" but Paul was not the man to be put down either by irony or insult; and at length it was found necessary to allow him a fair opportunity of explaining his principles. The Ancient Church Its History, Doctrine, Worship, and Constitution
SYDNEY (AFP) —A cartoon on the front page of Australia's national newspaper Thursday neatly illustrates an irony admitted by the government: communist China could save capitalism.
Moreover, his fascination with B-movies, science fiction and the rest of pop culture was self-conscious but not qualified by archness or irony.
`I must not digress, but when I look back, I can see the irony of it. MOONDROP TO MURDER
There is a delicious irony about a campaign promising more honesty in politics through the deployment of an argument it must know to be entirely dishonest. Times, Sunday Times
The name sustained an irreverent homage to the monarchy, armored with irony after his flight from fascist Europe. Allan M. Jalon: Arts Lust: Central Europe's Underwear Showing
There is humour, irony and satire. Times, Sunday Times
The irony in all this is the circular logic of what appears to be the new strategic competition.
Give people exactly what they remember a genre is all about, add a smidgeon of irony/contemporary cultural reference to taste, count the money.
It would be the perfect irony if today's opponents provided the spark that Scotland need to beat them in their own magnificent Millennium Stadium.
He did not survive and there will have been enough irony to fill the old warhorse's veins in what his new side produced. Times, Sunday Times
It was while standing in the early dawn at the opening ceremony for the recommissioned Matahina Dam on the Rangitikei River in 1998 that the irony first occurred to me.
There is a cruel irony for cancer care in this country. Times, Sunday Times
Also, like the irony in our daily life, dramatic irony can also be described in this framework.
Given that the map on the right clearly says ‘Baghdad’ in the middle, I assume you're using that staple of British wit, to wit, ‘irony.’
There is an irony to Gates' mission in Afghanistan: it was he who led the effort in the 1980's to support the anti-Soviet Mujahedeen, some of whom have since morphed into America's worst enemies.
Socratic irony had its particular meaning in the context of ancient Greece. It was just an "act" put on by Socrates which demonstrated his nature, when he spoke to people.
It is an irony lost on nobody that men draped in the English flag proclaiming unmatchable patriotism are the ones who disgrace this country.
Nor should the irony of this be overlooked, given Hanson's stridently self-righteous defense of free speech in the face of repressive political correctness.
The irony is that models and fashion editors are wearing them with bare legs in freezing conditions. Times, Sunday Times
There was always a touch of irony, the hint of a little playacting. Times, Sunday Times
Maybe there’s some irony in castigating liberals (who supposedly blame society and circumstances for everything) when they put things in those terms. The Volokh Conspiracy » “Do ‘Family Values’ Weaken Families?”
When Kim and I fought, I would inevitably retreat into the safety of my irony cage.
It is no small irony that these provisions in the current housing law were devised by one-time Republican Sen.
The tragic irony is that the drug was supposed to save lives.
That is, Austen invited an intense identification with her heroines while undermining the reader's ability to do so through the irony inherent in free indirect speech.
Irony is of signal importance in English humour, in everything from radio comedy to literature.
The phrase is loaded with irony.
The tale is innocently romantic without a tinge of irony.
That movie is about cunning, wit and irony - as incarnated in the larger-than-life figure of an Austrian super-star who is more American than millions of native-borns.
We can only presume that the index does not account for such complex concepts as sarcasm and irony.
In Miguel Street, irony goes far beyond a rhetorical device. Instead, it's the narrative strategy of the whole novel.
In the past fifteen years, her work has taken a distinct turn towards playful irony and exuberant narration.
It made me jealous with its wit and irony....
It was above all the smile of dramatic irony, of those who have privileged information.
A much overlooked irony with social networking sites is that, although they are supposedly ‘social’, their use requires one to very unsocially spend time behind one's PC.
It's a curious irony that the term "heavy- weight" has been applied to Chris Patten's appointment as the new chair of the BBC Trust Patten to be named BBC Trust chair, 19 February, as it would seem the other possible candidates lacked such an accolade. Letters: Jobs for the boys in a biased media
He was an adapt in the irony of incongruously grouping.
Some see it as a great irony and others as complete lack of cultural sensibility and knowledge of Latinos, but the most recent political debate between Democrats and Republicans, have Latinos as main actor and a "chimichanga" sort of a tex mex fried burrito as the evidence. Pilar Marrero: Republicans and Democrats Argue Over "Chimichangas"
By a cruel irony, it was the sixth anniversary of their engagement.
Stranger still, this particular exhibit is presented without a trace of irony.
Somehow, the standard mode of transport, the golf buggy - everyone zips around in them - comes with a suitable edge of irony.
An attempt is made to analyze the cases of irony occurring in a Chinese literary work-Lu Xun's A Madman's Diary within the framework of the echoic interpretation theory.
His wit, sarcasm, and sense of irony are not always easy to distinguish from where he is sincere.
These times make it especially necessary to be in touch with the asurdity, the ridiculous, the funniness, and the irony of the everyday.
Multi-tasking" was what they called it, before computers made the term passe & it's not unrecognized irony that brings the robotic to mind to attempt to squeeze the human element out of the equation almost entirely. Dru Blood - I believe in the inherent goodness of all beings: Love and Sleep and my life in Music
After staggering about under this intense thunderclap of irony, we moved.
Dramatic irony also plays an important role in exposing flat characters' absurdity and round characters' defects.
Am I the only one seeing the irony, that the FIRST thing I have to do with this copy of Repair of Books by Cockerell is REMOVE THE 2½ "x 1½" BOOKSELLER TICKET THAT THE VENDOR APPLIED TO IT?!? at Archive 2008-01-01
The irony is that models and fashion editors are wearing them with bare legs in freezing conditions. Times, Sunday Times
The irony is that models and fashion editors are wearing them with bare legs in freezing conditions. Times, Sunday Times
Irony is used here to mock an emotional response, identified as always female, always stupid.
Reply i agree with choire regarding irony, i have to admit that it's very difficult to put aside, but i am getting better at it : On Being An American - Anil Dash
Arabian Jazz is replete with humorous instances of recontextualized cultural inheritance, cultural teases, and trickster-like irony.
Also I could hear irony in his tone and I thought that for some reason he was very annoyed indeed.
Sometimes it's hard to know when Tom Brokaw is actually gauche or playing gauche; actually ironic or ironizing his own irony. Todd Gitlin: Sunday Watch 10-5-08: In Which Tom Brokaw Goes Foxy
with measured irony
We retreat into our irony cages when we feel threatened by our difference from other people.
There's plenty of irony in seeing one monopoly accuse another monopoly of restricting users' choices.
The hidden irony is that fondue is as integral to Swiss cuisine as, say, mince and tatties are to ours.
There is a typology of rhetorical figures of speech made up of four tropes, they in turn govern the way we operate language: metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, and irony.
The irony is almost too perfect: Malls are now being designed to resemble the downtown commercial districts they replaced.
All this without a trace of irony.
She works without irony as a loss adjustor, hired by an insurance company to put a figure on the reparation of loss in times of accident and tragedy. Letting Go « Tales from the Reading Room
The duo display a likable rapport and a healthy sense of irony, and their show is punctuated by flashes of invigorating idiocy.
The irony of my writing about buying handbags on a budget is not lost on me. Times, Sunday Times
The ridiculous metal guitars were parodied hilariously by worthy MIDI keyboards, but here they are reveled in, with no irony intended.
The professors laugh at the irony but ignore the message-that academic skills and fighting skills may not often coexist.
Most secretive of ironists, had this been your deepest irony?
Moments of pure comic relief run alongside a knowing irony. Times, Sunday Times
Please spare us any more of your bad manners, chutzpah, irony and hypocrisy!
A fair portion of contemporary poetry over-relies on self-reflexive irony, tonal detachment, and an often irritating allusive erudition.
The irony we often fail to appreciate is that the more justice people enjoy, the fewer crimes they commit.
She answered pomposity with irony and dominated conversations by her personality and shrewd psychology.
Irony regards every simple truth as a challenge. Mason Cooley
There is no archness in the presentation of this stuff; it does not read with a hint of irony, it has no sly jokes between the lines, no punchlines whatsoever.
Finally, for both Wimsatt and Brooks a defining characteristic of poetry was irony.
This is an irony, indeed, for a critic and a book most readily associated with the command to "always historicize! Introduction
His stylistic verve and a gift for irony have earned him considerable praise in Spain. The Times Literary Supplement
Oedipus Rex is notable for its use of dramatic irony: everybody in the audience knows from the start that Oedipus himself is the guilty party he seeks out for punishment.
Caine has always been an actor who excels in irony.
The gentle irony is there, but directed at the subject matter rather than the means of production. Times, Sunday Times
Humour, even during war, and illness, are not missing; nor is irony: the first patient to be successfully dialysed and live was a Quisling who had become ill in gaol after the Liberation.
In the meantime, you may savor the irony of how this inveterate critic of liberal media bias exposed his own bias in such an extraordinary manner.
Heavy irony underlines her declaration that she had always wanted to be in the movies and longed to be discovered, like Marilyn Monroe.
The irony was that Shawn had not seen her. Nor for that matter had anyone else.
The final irony was that he became Minister of Education having left school at 12.
The irony is that this spectacle is a temporary loss of national identity. Times, Sunday Times
The irony is lost in translation.
By using irony, similes, and symbols, to name a few, Crane ‘paints’ a vivid picture of what life was like for the fragile Henry Fleming.
Category: Carol Shea-Porter, death of irony, frank guinta, meet the new boss, new hampshire, tasered marmoset Meet New Boss Rep Shea-Porter (D, NH). - Moe_Lane’s blog - RedState
I do appreciate cultural artifacts, however, my appreciation includes a recognition of irony, and I mean irony in its strictest sense, not as a malapropism for sarcasm or smug insincerity.
The irony here is rich, to say the least, considering all the Constellation advocates who called Beverly Hills "alarmist" and "hysterical" when the potential safety concerns of tunneling under a high school -- with both oil fields and its own fault -- were initially brought up. John Mirisch: Fault-y Towers: Don't Mention the Core!
And in this town called irony, hipster royalism is rampant. Times, Sunday Times
It is an irony of history that it is for their unlawful acts that their successors will also be remembered. The Times Literary Supplement
Poems expressing wills and determinations, " irony and sarcasm, elegancy and the active romanticism of Chu Verses had deeply influenced the creative arts of Mao Zedong's poems.
Bonaparte a kind of acerbity and bitter irony, of which he long endeavoured to discover the cause. Complete Project Gutenberg Collection of Memoirs of Napoleon
There is another irony here, which involves a kind of contradistinction between present and posthumous fame. The Times Literary Supplement
The first irony is that AV is not a system of proportional representation at all. Times, Sunday Times
Yesterday, Agricola made me read an article in a newspaper, in which violent blame and bitter irony are by turns employed, to attack what they call the baneful tendencies of some of the lower orders, to improve themselves, to write, to read the poets, and sometimes to make verses. The Wandering Jew — Complete
There is an irony in comparing how the law is moving in relation to married and unmarried couples on this issue.
But speaking of plays about the Trojan War, I think I'd like to see Tiger at the Gates done in repertory Troilus and Cressida, a compare and contrast between irony and out and out cynicism. Lance Mannion:
Wouldn't that be a delicious irony? The Sun
Still, there is an irony to it that may appeal to Boris's waggish nature.
The irony is that, with his frightfully pukka delivery and actorish manner, Stephens's hero seems to be of an older stylistic vintage than anyone else on stage.
The deeper structure is a linguistic basis in its essence, made up of four basic discourse patterns:metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, and irony.
The irony is that the farming methods causing the drainage will result in their own demise, as they use up the topsoil and render the ground infertile.
Maybe the boffins could have detected a trace of irony in the way she said it. Times, Sunday Times
The term irony itself is rooted in the Greek eiron, or "a dissembler," or liar. The Rule of Reason
This does not go down well with the ensemble's increasingly bolshie members who do not seem to recognise the irony of their conservative response to the work of a fellow avant gardist.
He uses various comic conventions such as satire, farce, absurdism, and irony to attack widely divergent cultural philosophies, politics, and ethics.
What’s more, you’re “love it or leave it” hokum is the height of anti-American rhetorical irony. Matthew Yglesias » Good Fences Make Bad Policy
To allude to this lethal confrontation, this terminal comedy of errors, Heine employs the language of irony and inversion.
This suggests that Dada artists are exempt from the general rule that ironists are the biggest victims of their own irony.
Could this be postmodern irony 's first trip to the darts? Times, Sunday Times
There are people who are dancing through life and others who are crying through life. The irony is that life is the same-what we do is purely our choice. RVM
To add irony to injury, his reselection was itself a result of an injury to the captain Jason Robinson.
In perfect irony, one of them was seen pasting posters on the pedestal of the Kamaraj statue to publicise an agitation in the city on Tuesday.
The professors laugh at the irony but ignore the message-that academic skills and fighting skills may not often coexist.
The irony in this is that, unknown to most of the public, President Mahinda Rajapaksa and I have been friends for more than a quarter-century.
She spoke with heavy irony.
By a supreme irony, Pentheus is destroyed by the very qualities he denies.
Sinclair examined the closed, clever face for any hint of irony, but found none.
The irony of the scenario was well appreciated by yours truly.
Some films answer this question by poeticizing realism (Throne of Blood, Kwaidan), through irony and humaneness (Star Wars, Chinese Ghost Story), or by just giving up believability (Charlie's Angels, Wong Jing's wackier films).
It was a bitter irony that he condemned her for loving a man who was out of reach.
A Doll's House also contains many examples of dramatic irony.
Ask his London counterpart about private cash and she talks, without irony, of the proceeds from donation boxes.
Wagner calls his program 'the worst talk show in America,' without a hint of irony.
The note of irony Diana was aiming at somehow failed to materialize; the question came out straight. MIDNIGHT IS A LONELY PLACE
What vivifies these elements, however, is the central operation of a pervasive and fundamental irony.
The final dialogue, Imperceptible, is a darkly humorous piece of irony.
Political parody, irony, and satire have not only surged in popularity in recent years, but they have become complexly intertwined with serious political dialogue. Amber Day: Why More Americans Are Being Informed and Entertained by Satire Than Ever Before
That's the awful irony of the dynamic: that the stubborn, idiosyncratic, self-possessed auteurs getting stiffed in their coffins wouldn't want these nitwits to finish their careers for them.
By a cruel irony, it was the sixth anniversary of their engagement.
The irony of Claudius as an urbane "berserker" may be picked up by the reader or teacher, but it ought to be handled very carefully before being dropped again. Idiom in Shakespeare
After the suave political irony of Before the Revolution, Bertolucci's triumphant return to his hometown of Parma brings us subtle and snide satire on human nature and the bourgeois family.
“Hello, girls,” Ivy said, thinking the curtesy was the ultimate irony since the two of them had forced their way in. Santa Cruise
The study is devoted to two aspects of irony: the pragma-linguistic forms and pragmatic strategies in irony realization (or the pragma-linguistic cues for irony), and the pragmatic functions of irony.
She plays him from the inside out, revealing his interior struggles while making fully incarnate his exterior -- the irony, sarcasm, ecstatic beauty, paradox, and the leonine raging against an incipient silence. Music review: Yuliya Gorenman plays Beethoven sonatas at the Katzen Center
There was a certain irony in the run of play. Times, Sunday Times
Yet behind the irony in the final rhythmic incantation we read an emptiness that is neither spiritual sustenance, nor love.
It's a puzzle not without a hint of irony. The Sun
The honorable senator from Connecticut (note the irony) is right up there with Hillary Clinton in personifying what’s wrong with our government. Think Progress » Lieberman Flashback: Questioning Bush’s Credibility Is Central To Democracy
The irony is that if he had done the decent thing he may well have taken a hit in the polls, but it wouldn't have been as big as the hit he took by appearing to be a pale imitation of the Prime Minister.
And the Marx's understanding of Socratic irony was of a legendary color in his philosophical pursuit.
August 31, 2009 at 7:55 am irony? iz taht kinda lyke bronzy er goldy? Idiot friends - Lolcats 'n' Funny Pictures of Cats - I Can Has Cheezburger?
Do I detect a note of irony in your voice?
Such is the irony of the march of political philosophy. Times, Sunday Times
The irony is that I am willing to stand up and say that and take a good amount of criticism for it.
But she added: 'I am very pleased people realise the irony of him presenting himself as a victim. The Sun
The irony of Kinsey's character is that he isn't given to temptation in the usual sense (except to be as uncompromising as his priggish father).
This was said sincerely without a trace of irony. Times, Sunday Times
The replacement, Enduring Freedom, was well-received in U.S. mass media, an irony-free zone where only the untowardly impertinent might suggest that some people had no choice other than to endure the Pentagon's freedom to bomb.
After the cinereous satire, the irony and catharsis of downfallen feelings have been deepened, whose humor is full of fugitive feelings of escaping narration.
A funny bit of irony resulted from the mid-air debate that was sparked by the sight of my cropped hair.
It is an impassive reversal of the expected hospital-drama roles to which the movie attaches no overt irony.
A postmodern playfulness and irony are employed to challenge a Party icon, by co-opting fragments of an old socialist anthem as the basis of a rock song.
‘You are not rich, Niña?’ came the singing, caressive bird-like voice: ‘Then, you are poor?’ — this was indescribable irony. The Plumed Serpent
The irony is that hard-up Paddy's is flush with character, while the ersatz grandeur of malls and the like offer a poorer shopping experience by far.
Do I detect a tinge of irony?
In this instance, the irony is only comprehensible when it is perceived as a contemptuous echoic interpretation of our God's words.
The irony is that his deal with Lateline was the sort of untrustworthy action that he spends time in his diaries attacking the media for.

How To Use Irony In A Sentence

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