ironical
/aɪˈɹɒnɪkəl/
"ironical" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“ironical” is uncommon English (frequency #83,379 among 2,140 “I” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #83,379
- frequency rank, English
- 2,140
- “I” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Characterized by or constituting (any kind of) irony.
Corpus desk
Index EN-ironical · ironical · English
ironical · rank #83,379 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #83,379
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,140
- PHOTO-FINISH invitee
Nearest frequency peer: invitee (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Long-tail ranks near “ironical”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- insigne
insigne
16,627 corpus weight
- interglacial
interglacial
16,626 corpus weight
- intrust
intrust
16,624 corpus weight
- invitee
invitee
16,623 corpus weight
- ironical
ironical
16,622 corpus weight
- Iza
Iza
16,619 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “ironical” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | ironical |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /aɪˈɹɒnɪkəl/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #83,379 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “ironical” in English
Rare enough to double-check
ironical is uncommon English at frequency #83,379 among 2,140 “I” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /aɪˈɹɒnɪkəl/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for ironical, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: From ironic + -al. Attested since the 1570s. The correct English form is ironical, spelled I-R-O-N-I-C-A-L.
Definition
- 1Characterized by or constituting (any kind of) irony.
- 2Given to the use of irony; sarcastic.
- 3Feigning ignorance; simulating lack of instruction or knowledge; exhibiting Socratic irony.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how ironical appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
“So, ultimately, I realized I have been completely ruining my life and my face. What is ironical is that I was only doing this to make myself look better for my wife Marwa. This was for her, not for me.”
His tone was cold and ironical; its bitterness but reflecting the terrible disappointment he had suffered.
Etymology
From ironic + -al. Attested since the 1570s.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "ironical", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).