Definition of "derision"

There was just a touch of derision in the Don's voice and Hagen flushed.

1969, Mario Puzo, The Godfather

One of the darlings of the early vegetarian movement (particularly in its even sadder form, the cutlet), it was on the menu at John Harvey Kellogg's Battle Creek Sanitarium [sic], and has since become the default Sunday option for vegetarians – and a default source of derision for everyone else.

2011 December 15, Felicity Cloake, “How to cook the perfect nut roast”, in Guardian‎

Miss Briggs was not formally dismissed, but her place as companion was a sinecure and a derision […]

1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 14, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848