caricature

plural caricatures · alternative archaic caricatura

1. A pictorial representation of someone in which distinguishing features are exaggerated for comic effect.

   Men In Black 3 lacks the novelty of the first film, and its take on the late ’60s feels an awful lot like a psychedelic dress-up party, all broad caricatures and groovy vibes.

   2012 May 24, Nathan Rabin, “Film: Reviews: Men In Black 3”, in The Onion AV Club

   1 more example

   Lo Ching-chong (羅慶忠), better known as L.C.C., showed off a caricature of Lu he did in 2001. In the black-and-white drawing, Lu sports a bird's nest-like hairdo, with a bird perched in it.

   2006 March 7, Shu-ling Ko, “Cartoonists decry the lack of interest in their talents”, in Taipei Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 30 Dec 2006, Taiwan News, page 3

2. A grotesque misrepresentation.

   A grotesque caricature of virtue.

   1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter III, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC

   2 more examples

   Anything more appalling than this jumbled mass of the remains of a departed race I cannot imagine, and what made it even more dreadful was that in this dry air a considerable number of the bodies had simply become desiccated with the skin still on them, and now, fixed in every conceivable position, stared at us out of the mountain of white bones, grotesquely horrible caricatures of humanity.

   1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC

   They were ignoring that the feckless, toothless caricature of a world parliament — the UN — needed American money in order to keep going and would do anything to get our moolah!

   1994 October, Harry Hay, “Focussing On NAMBLA Obscures The Issues”, in Gay Community News, page 18

3. computingIn facial recognition systems, a face that has been modified to look less like the average face, and thus more distinctive.

alternative archaic caricatura

1. not comparableHaving the characteristics of a caricature, grotesque.

   That singularly foolish old lady, her grandmother, got up a sort of caricature conspiracy, and Miss Churchill was to have been married to a coxcombical Jacobite, of the name of Trevanion; but he was arrested in the church, though he has since escaped by means of the jailor's daughter.

   1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, pages 274–275

present singular third person caricatures · participle present caricaturing · participle past caricatured · past caricatured · alternative archaic caricatura

1. To represent someone in an exaggerated or distorted manner.

   Their faults grew suddenly perceptible, and their absurdities an unfailing subject of mimicry. All these, in his hands, became singularly amusing. Francesca, who had little knowledge, and no envy, of the individuals so relentlessly caricatured, could not help being entertained.

   1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XVII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 180