A parody is an imitation of a particular writer, style, or genre that deliberately exaggerates its features for comic or critical effect. It depends on the audience’s recognition of the original.

Successful parody captures the mannerisms, vocabulary, and typical situations of its target closely enough to be recognizable, then pushes them into absurdity or reveals their limitations. Cervantes’s Don Quixote began as a parody of chivalric romance; countless later works have parodied literary, cinematic, and popular forms. Parody can be affectionate or scathing. It is a form of criticism that proceeds by imitation rather than by direct argument.

Parody differs from satire by focusing primarily on stylistic or generic features rather than on social vices, though the two often overlap. It differs from pastiche by its comic or critical intent. The best parodies are funny even to admirers of the original and can outlive their targets. Weak parodies merely mock without capturing what made the original distinctive.

An imitation that exaggerates in order to amuse or critique is a parody.