derisive
mocking or scornful
Roots
Other words with the rid / ris root
- deride: to mock or ridicule
- derision: contemptuous mockery
- ridicule: mockery; to mock
- ridiculous: absurd or laughable
- risible: laughable; absurd
Derisive language laughs down at someone.
Her derisive smile said more than the insult itself.
It is laughter with a downward angle: not joy but contempt.