100+ Irony Examples | MS Word, PDF

“Take your time, but make haste as well.” “Nice weather we’re having.” Says the young woman dripping wet from the rain. “Indeed, I may want to catch a good sunny break later in the day.” Says her companion. From the short conversation between these two people, what do you think is going on? What do you think the woman is trying to say here? If you answered she is simply complimenting the weather, she is in a different sense. Take the second conversation: “It sure is a quiet place here.” John said, eyeing the club and its music playing on full blast. “You’re joking right?” Ask Luke, eyeing him with a strange look. From the second conversation, you may ask yourself how a club with music playing full blast could be so quiet.

Another example that would sound like the one above is “It is like a blind person leading another blind person.” This is a common quote spoken to someone for thinking they know everything when they do not, and would insist on letting others follow their lead. If you noticed the words and how different the meaning behind it, you may have encountered this type of figure of speech. The Irony. To know more about what this kind of figure of speech is, check out 100+ irony examples right now.

100+ Irony Examples

1. Irony Template

2. Irony and Sarcasm

3. Irony in Literature

4. Irony as Expression

5. Qualitative Studies on Irony

6. Irony in English

7. Irony in Literature and in Life

8. Verbal Irony

9. Research on Irony

10. Irony with Examples

11. Processing of Irony

12. Positive and Negative Irony

13. Creation of Irony

14. Intention Irony

15. Dramatic Irony

16. Irony Types

17. Compounded Irony

18. Ironical Character of Fragments

19. Verbal Irony Example

20. Irony Lesson Plan

21. Functions of Irony

22. Basic Irony

23. Irony in Macbeth

24. About Irony in PDF

25. Uses of Irony

26. Nature of Irony

27. First and Second Order Irony

28. Irony in Films

29. Irony and Nostalgia

30. Dramatic Irony in English

31. Modes of Irony

32. Irony Study Guide

33. Comprehension of Irony

34. Limits of Irony

35. Theoretical Background on Irony

36. Situational Irony

37. Examples of Irony

38. Satanic Irony

39. Automatic Irony

40. Attitudes and Irony

41. General Irony

42. Socratic Irony

43. Standard Irony

44. Framework of Irony

45. Moral Irony

46. Printable Irony

47. Irony Characteristics

48. Simile and Irony

49. Irony and Dissociation

50. Irony and Cruelty

51. Irony Approaches

52. Irony Model

53. Stylistic Signals of Verbal Irony

54. Situational and Verbal Irony

55. Irony Example in PDF

56. Draft Irony

57. General Irony in English

58. Strategies of Irony

59. Research on Irony Detection

60. Oxford English Irony

61. Irony Template in PDF

62. Formal Irony

63. Confidential Irony

64. Negative Irony

65. Irony in Short

66. Tragic Irony

67. Irony Worksheet in DOC

68. Irony in DOC

69. Irony and Relevance

70. General Irony in DOC

71. Irony Class Notes

72. Irony Group Project

73. Irony for Liberal Society

74. Irony and Theme Notes

75. Irony Objectives

76. Irony Template in DOC

77. A Workhouse Irony

78. Types of Irony Example

79. Theorizing Irony

80. Irony Reality

81. Kinds of Irony

82. Irony Expression

83. Function of Irony

84. Irony Dead Worksheet

85. Irony Qualities

86. Irony Examples in DOC

87. Paradox and Irony

88. Simple Irony Types

89. Irony Literary Terms

90. Irony Lesson

91. Irony Terms

92. Rhetoric of Irony

93. Irony and Humour

94. Draft Irony in Literature

95. Irony and Theme

96. Island’s Irony

97. Irony in DOC Template

98. Irony Differences

99. Irony Lesson Skill

100. Irony for Translation

101. Student Irony

What Is Irony?

Have you ever asked yourself if there is any difference between irony and sarcasm? Is there any difference between these two and if there is any, what do you think are they? When can you use irony in either speeches or writing? How do you tell if the person is being ironic or is being genuine? Even in the business world, there are a lot who may think that being ironic is also being sarcastic. Which oftentimes go together. Now to keep the ball rolling, let us begin. For starters, what is an irony? When we were in school, our professors would often teach us that irony is a kind of figure of speech. Along with simile, metaphors, personifications, etc. According to Cambridge Dictionary, the word irony is defined as mildly put as something that was intended to have a better result only to be given a different one, often a negative kind of result.

A situation that any person is given to expect a better result, only to be given a negative or a different result which is not based on their expectations. In the business world, there are a lot of risks and the irony that goes with it. This means that anything that someone may expect as great results would only turn out the opposite. Needless to say, an irony can still be considered a blessing if one has expected something better than the first. In a different context of the same topic, in literature an irony depicts the opposite of what is being said or being asked. An irony used in literature offers the reader the exact result of what the character may or may not be expecting. For teachers to explain what an irony can be, it is to let the students know that anything that may be expected to happen can change unexpectedly. Nothing is set in stone. 

Sarcasm and Irony are often told to be interchangeable. In a way that they are and they are not. The difference between sarcasm and irony is that sarcasm is a form of irony but it is not considered irony and the term irony is a figure of speech. There are three kinds of ironies and will be discussed in this article as well. The first one which is a bit common is what we call verbal irony. What is verbal irony? Verbal irony as the name states, is a kind of irony that the person states one thing but they mean something quite different. Like for example, “take your time, I am in no hurry.” This is considered a verbal irony. You are telling the person that you want them to take their time, but in truth you really want them to hurry up.

So there is a clash between two different meanings. Another example for a verbal irony is “Nice weather we’re having.” This kind of example of a verbal irony is usually stated when there is a huge downpour of rain. In reality, nobody states this unless they were being sarcastic. The next type of irony is the dramatic irony. However, unlike the verbal irony whose term is literally what it means, the dramatic irony has nothing to do with anything dramatic. The term itself can be an example of an irony itself. Moving on, a dramatic irony often regarded as a tragic irony, is basically letting someone know the current issues that another person has but the person in question is not aware of it. This kind of irony is usually reserved in literary pieces, but it can also be used in regards to people in their daily lives. Lastly, we have the comedic irony. From the term itself, a comedic irony uses humor. Something that is ironically funny can be considered comedic irony.

How to Use Irony?

Knowing what we know now, you may want to learn how to use irony in your sentences, in your speeches and even in your daily lives. There are ways on using irony in different aspects. From writing, to understanding it by reading it, from speeches and daily life. But how does one ever really understand if the person is being ironic? How does one even begin to comprehend if the words that you are reading, the writer or the author may be being ironic? How does one begin to know how to use irony in their daily conversations or their daily writing? If you are as curious as I am on how, you may want to check out how to use irony correctly.

1. In Sentences

Whether you are writing for a story or for a letter and you wish to write out some ironies, you may want to be careful with how you use them. When writing an irony in your sentence, think outside the box. Think on how you are going to approach the situation but you want the person reading to see you were being ironic. State this as an example when writing down an irony in a sentence “The psychologist seeks therapy.” Who would assume someone who gives out help would be the one to seek out help for themselves. From this example alone, you may find a way to write out your own irony in the sentence.

2. In Speeches

You can use irony in speeches. Whether it be comedic irony, dramatic irony or even verbal ironies. The idea is that when you plan on making speeches, you have to remember which kind of irony you may want to use and if they would fit your topic in your speech. In addition to that, be careful with how you may word your ironies in your speech, as others may find it offensive when you mean it differently.

3. In Classroom Activities

The best way to introduce the topic of irony to your students is to make an activity out of it. Rearranging words or giving examples of the different types of irony would also be a fun way of learning. Cite out some examples and let them guess if the person is being ironic or simply being sarcastic. Which of course is two different things.

4. In Literary Pieces

If you plan on writing out a literary piece, you may try and use some irony to spice up the mix. Letting your readers find out about the life of the character before the character themselves. It is not only a fun experience for your readers, but it also gives them an opportunity to know the difference.

5. Use Irony in Business

Draw your customers in by giving out examples of irony in business. This is one way of engaging with your customers and drawing them in to doing business with you, or to draw them in by letting them think what was expected would not be expected at all.

FAQs

To recap, irony is a figure of speech. It is not interchangeable with sarcasm. Sarcasm is a form of irony and is not interchangeable as irony. Irony has three common types and they are verbal irony, tragic irony and comedic irony. You can use irony even in businesses. Irony is often a misunderstood figure of speech as most would assume that irony and sarcasm are both the same, from the discussion above, it is clear that they are both different in how they work and how they mean.