Satire—the act of ridiculing human vices and follies, often with the intent of correcting, or changing, the subject

of the satiric attack

Subject of scorn, laughter or ridicule

In literature, it’s when a character’s flaws are

exaggerated or ridiculed. SNL and Jon Stewart often single out political figures and mock the way they handle situations.

Mocking imitation of a known person, literary work, movie, or event

Ex: The movie Scary Movie, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, many South Park episodes

Imitation of the literary epic and its style by exaggeration and distortion and by elevating the trivial to a higher level than it deserves

“The Rape of the Lock” by Alexander Pope is an example of mock-heroic verse. Pope's poem was inspired by Lord Petre's cutting of a lock of Miss Arabella Fermor's hair without her permission.

A double meaning; saying one thing and meaning another

Ex: Our school library is simply overflowing with books!

Exaggeration by saying more than you mean to say—all hyperbole is a form of overstatement

Overstatement in William Shakespeare's Macbeth:

In Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth, in order to gain the crown, Macbeth and his wife, Lady Macbeth, have plotted to successfully murder King Duncan. Yet, Macbeth immediately begins to feel the guilt of his deed when he holds up his hand, with Duncan's blood on it, and asks Lady Macbeth:

"Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood / Clean from my hand?" (Act 2, Scene 2).

Implying the opposite by saying less than you mean to say

Ex: You don’t have your senior project on its due date and your advisor tells you: “No worries… It’s only a diploma.”

Understatement in William Shakespeare's Macbeth:

Shakespeare is using an obvious overstatement in the last frame that nevertheless encompasses the magnitude of the Macbeths's crime of murder. Of course, the blood can easily be washed off with a small amount of water. In fact, Lady Macbeth makes this point, while also understating the murder: "A little water clears us of this deed."

Going quickly from the sublime or serious to the ridiculous or to over sentimentalize (melodramatic)

Ex:"O Moon, when I gaze on thy beautiful face,Careering along through the boundaries of space,The thought has often come into my mindIf I shall ever see thy glorious behind."(A Housemaid Poet, quoted by D.B. Wyndham Lewis and Charles Lee in The Stuffed Owl: An Anthology of Bad Verse, 1930)