1. The use of words to express something different from and often opposite to their literal meaning: As Jamie walked away from the clerk, who had spent a lot of time helping her without indicating her appreciation, he said with irony, that she was very welcome.

Irony is an insult presented in the form of a compliment.

2. An expression or utterance marked by a deliberate contrast between apparent and intended meaning: Irony is a literary style that employs various contrasts for humorous or rhetorical effects.
3. Something that happens that is inconsistent with what might be expected to happen; especially, when this seems absurd or laughable: It was with a sense of irony that Richard turned down the job that he was striving so hard and for so long to obtain.

What irony to be offered three jobs after having been turned down every time for over two months.

Irony is an expression of something which is contrary to the intended meaning; the words say one thing but mean something else. Here is a classical example of an ironic statement as seen in William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar when Mark Antony ironically stated: "Yet Brutus says he was ambitious; And Brutus is an honorable man."

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A condition in which something happens which is undesirable and a strong sarcastic statement is made regarding that incident: Mrs. Black said a bitter irony when her husband gave her a mop and bucket as Christmas presents. © ALL rights are reserved.

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A theatrical effect in which the true meaning of a situation, or some incongruity in the plot, is understood by the viewers, but apparently not by the characters in the play or movie: A reporter's praise in his newspaper of an awful presentation was considered to be a dramatic irony.

A situation in which something happens that is very desirable in itself, but it is so badly timed that it isn't of any use or it is no longer an advantage: By an irony of fate, although Joseph had been living in poverty all of his life, he inherited a fortune; however, he was so old and incapacitated with an illness that he could not enjoy it.

The use of contradictory expressions in a drama; originally, in Greek "tragedies": Tragic irony is present in some plays making it possible for an audience to be aware that a character's words or actions will bring about a fatal result, while the character is someone who apparently doesn't know that it is going to happen.