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countable and uncountable, plural satires
(uncountable) A literary device of writing or art which principally ridicules its subject often as an intended means of provoking or preventing change or highlighting a shortcoming in the work of another. Humor, irony, and exaggeration are often used to aid this. examples
(countable) A satirical work. examples
(uncountable, dated) Severity of remark. quotations examples
CAESAR. No, by the gods! would that it had been! Vengeance at least is human. No, I say: those severed right hands, and the brave Vercingetorix basely strangled in a vault beneath the Capitol, were (with shuddering satire) a wise severity, a necessary protection to the commonwealth, a duty of statesmanship—follies and fictions ten times bloodier than honest vengeance!
1898, George Bernard Shaw, Caesar and Cleopatra