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# ironically

«ironically» in Mova's school dictionary: **the opposite of what you would expect, which makes it…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

adverb (ironically)

### meaning for a pupil

1) In a way that is the opposite of what you would expect, which makes it strange or funny. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/ironically/#m1)

2) Saying something but meaning the opposite, as a joke. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/ironically/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

In stories and everyday talk it starts sentences: «Ironically, the robbers were caught by a police officer on holiday.» In English lessons it shows irony. In speech: «He said "well done" ironically.»

### examples

- Ironically, the fire alarm caught fire. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/ironically/#x1)
- Ironically, the spelling champion misspelt his own name. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/ironically/#x2)
- She clapped ironically when he dropped the ball. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/ironically/#x3)
- Ironically, the dog was scared of the cat. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/ironically/#x4)
- «Brilliant,» he said ironically, looking at the mess. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/ironically/#x5)
- Ironically, the shortcut took longer. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/ironically/#x6)

### note

From ironic + -ally. Often at the start of a sentence with a comma. Do not use it just to mean «sadly» or «by chance».

### In the corpora

- ["Little darling" said ironically means a badly behaved child.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/15-behaviour-and-school-reports/14/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «ironically» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/ironically/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.