travesty

From French travestir (“to disguise”), from Latin trāns (“over”) + vestīre (“to clothe”). Doublet of transvest.

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɹæv.əs.ti/
• Hyphenation: trav‧es‧ty

travesty (plural travesties)

1. An absurd or grotesque misrepresentation.
   • De Quincey

     The second edition is not a recast, but absolutely a travesty of the first.

2. A parody or stylistic imitation.
3. (derogatory) A grossly inferior imitation.

   A battlefield trial is a travesty of justice.

4. (colloquial, proscribed) An appalling version of something.
   • 2018 February 10, Phil McNulty, “Tottenham Hotspur 1 - 0 Arsenal”, in BBC‎:

     Spurs survived the scare - and such was their domination after the break that it would have been a travesty had Arsenal escaped Wembley, hosting a Premier League record attendance of 83,222, with a draw.

• caricature
• feign

• veracity

travesty (third-person singular simple present travesties, present participle travestying, simple past and past participle travestied)

1. (transitive) To make a travesty of; to parody.

• travesty in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• travesty in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• travesty at OneLook Dictionary Search
• “travesty” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2019.