How to Use ironic in a Sentence

ironic

adjective
  • She has an ironic sense of humor.
  • It is ironic that the robber's car crashed into a police station.
  • It's ironic that computers break down so often, since they're meant to save people time.
  • The fact that whiskey saved the farm is ironic, to say the least.
    — Tiney Ricciardi, Denver Post, 14 Oct. 2025
  • Which is ironic because this thing is no joke to cart around.
    — Michael Schneider, Variety, 30 Nov. 2022
  • The voice-over is both truthful and ironic.
    — Richard Brody, New Yorker, 7 Oct. 2025
  • But his comments are, at the very least, rather ironic.
    — James Hibberd, HollywoodReporter, 2 Oct. 2025
  • Which makes the remark feel even more ironic.
    — Fleurine Tideman, Glamour, 9 Mar. 2026
  • No light gets in, which is ironic and fitting for a film like this.
    — Matthew Carey, Deadline, 11 Dec. 2025
  • Send us the good, the bad, the sad, the funny and the ironic.
    — Annie Lane, oregonlive, 19 June 2020
  • And that that thing turned out to be the source of income is crazy ironic.
    — Julian Sancton, HollywoodReporter, 17 Nov. 2025
  • Bryce’s father calls his son’s death at that beach ironic in that sense.
    — USA TODAY, 12 Apr. 2024
  • Some people may find this ironic.
    — Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board, The Orlando Sentinel, 22 Mar. 2026
  • Her brush with social media has had an ironic turn of events.
    — Sanaya Chandar, Quartz India, 10 Nov. 2019
  • But how ironic that the free market turns out to be anything but free.
    — Dave Lieber, Dallas News, 26 Feb. 2021
  • That ironic tone comes through loud and clear on social media.
    — New York Times, 16 July 2022
  • Trump learned of his failure in a manner that could not have been more ironic.
    — James Hibberd, EW.com, 7 Nov. 2020
  • Will those same places later serve as ironic backdrops for bloody shootouts?
    — Katie Rife, IndieWire, 9 Sep. 2025
  • Nowhere have such spats been more ironic than in Vance’s rebuke of the pope.
    — Matthew Smith, The Conversation, 8 June 2026
  • Well, here's the ironic thing, Margaret.
    — CBS News, 8 Feb. 2026
  • How ironic that the quirky Tennant would be the most ruthless?
    — Devan Coggan, Entertainment Weekly, 23 Nov. 2025
  • What’s ironic, though, is that in Europe they’re prized for their pure white, mild flesh.
    — Joe Cermele, Field & Stream, 26 July 2023
  • Which is ironic, given that this is precisely what the film is about.
    — refinery29.com, 10 July 2018
  • The ironic thing about my estrangement story is that my mom used to be my best friend.
    — Good Housekeeping, 21 Dec. 2018
  • One ironic factor is that modern alarms are a bit too, well, modern.
    — New Atlas, 24 Jan. 2026
  • That’s perhaps why this year’s Diwali date felt so ironic to me.
    — Noor Brara, Vogue, 10 Nov. 2018
  • The song, as it’s used here, lays on the ironic jauntiness with a trowel.
    — Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 15 Jan. 2025
  • Which is ironic because in a sense, that’s the most important thing.
    — Alex Abad-Santos, Vox, 16 July 2024
  • Hurst played Thor in the video game, which makes his casting somewhat ironic.
    — Erik Kain, Forbes.com, 29 Jan. 2026
  • Somehow both brothers end up at the test and, in an ironic twist, Tomás gets the job.
    — Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 6 Dec. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'ironic.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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