Idiom
Laughing stock
A laughing stock is a person or group that everyone laughs at or makes fun of, often because of something foolish.
How people use it
It usually follows be, become or make: the bad call made the referee the laughing stock of the league. It suggests public embarrassment and lost respect, not friendly laughter. Merriam-Webster and most American dictionaries spell it as one word, laughingstock, though the two-word form is also common. The tone is neutral, but calling someone a laughing stock to their face is harsh.
Also said: laughingstock.
Examples
- After the website crashed on launch day, the company feared becoming a laughing stock.
- Leo worried his karaoke performance would make him the laughingstock of the office.
- The town's crooked new clock tower quickly became a laughing stock.
Where it comes from
It dates from the early 1500s. A stock was a post or stump, so a laughing stock was a fixed target for laughter, much like a post set up for target practice. Many people connect it with the stocks, the wooden frame where wrongdoers sat for public mockery. That is a natural link, but the records do not prove it. Shakespeare used the phrase in The Merry Wives of Windsor.
Check yourself
1. What happens if someone becomes a laughing stock?
Answer: People mock them. A laughing stock is someone everyone ridicules.
2. Which sentence uses the idiom correctly?
Answer: The team's terrible season made them the laughing stock of the league.. The idiom means being ridiculed, not being funny on purpose or collecting things.
Similar idioms
Word game fan? See every word hiding in LAUGHING.