irony vs levity

irony

noun
  • Socratic irony: ignorance feigned for the purpose of confounding or provoking an antagonist. 

  • Contradiction between circumstances and expectations; condition contrary to what might be expected. 

  • Dramatic irony: a theatrical effect in which the meaning of a situation, or some incongruity in the plot, is understood by the audience, but not by the characters in the play. 

  • The quality of a statement that, when taken in context, may actually mean something different from, or the opposite of, what is written literally; the use of words expressing something other than their literal intention, often in a humorous context. 

  • An ironic statement. 

adj
  • Of or pertaining to the metal iron. 

  • The food had an irony taste to it. 

levity

noun
  • Lightness of manner or speech, frivolity; lack of appropriate seriousness; inclination to make a joke of serious matters. 

  • A lighthearted or frivolous act. 

  • The state or quality of being light, buoyancy. 

How often have the words irony and levity occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )