Which term involves a deliberate use of opposite meanings for humorous or critical effect?

• A. Irony
• B. Bathos
• C. Malapropism
• D. Euphemism

Answer: (A)

Irony is a way of presenting ideas with meanings that are opposite to what is said or expected, used on purpose to produce humor or critique. In verbal irony, the speaker says something that means the opposite of what they intend; in dramatic irony, the audience understands something that the characters do not, creating a hold-the-gront or humorous effect. For example, describing a chaotic mess as “spotless” or praising bad weather as “lovely” uses opposite meaning to make a point or laugh. This deliberate contrast between appearance or words and actual meaning is what makes irony fit the question.

Bathos involves a sudden shift from serious to trivial or silly for comic effect, malapropism is a humorous mix-up where a word is replaced with a similar-sounding wrong one, and euphemism is the use of a milder term in place of a harsh one. None of theseCenter on the deliberate opposite meanings for humor or critique in the same way.