Derision is when you show that you think someone or something is stupid or silly — the sound, the look, or the public feeling of that putting-down. You meet it in phrases like howls of derision, an object of derision, or to be greeted with derision. It is the noun that sits next to deride: if people deride a plan, that plan is getting derision. It is not a kind word, and it is a little formal, the sort you read more than you say at dinner. Usually we do not count it: we say derision, not 'two derisions'. Though actually, the laugh may be loud in a crowd or quiet in one curled lip; both can be derision if the meaning is 'you must be joking'.