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a picture, description, etc., ludicrously exaggerating the peculiarities or defects of persons or things:
His caricature of the mayor in this morning’s paper is the best he’s ever drawn.
the art or process of producing such pictures, descriptions, etc.
any imitation or copy so distorted or inferior as to be ludicrous.
to make a caricature of; represent in caricature.
Contemporary Examples

If you listen closely, contemporary creationists talk less theologians and more like caricatures of left-wing cultural theorists.
When Creationists Collide with Stephen Colbert Michael Schulson December 14, 2013

On television, real housewives, basketball wives, and assorted other caricatures all strut forth baring cleavage.
Helen Gurley Brown’s Fashion Sense: the Power of Cleavage Robin Givhan August 13, 2012

The only other anti-Nazi caricatures to appear during the Third Reich were those that were published abroad.
When Hitler Was a Punchline Rudolph Herzog May 13, 2011

People—at least those who matter—usually are more complicated than their caricatures.
The Ann Coulter You Don’t Know Matt Latimer August 18, 2010

You always saw her talent shining through cracks in the stereotypes and caricatures she was handed to play.
Lorraine Toussaint on ‘Middle of Nowhere,’ ‘Scandal’ & the Oscars Allison Samuels December 14, 2012

Historical Examples

No. 25 is another of the caricatures of photography in its early days by “Cuthbert Bede,” and very funny it is.
The Strand Magazine, Volume XVII, February 1899, No. 98. Various

In this case it took the shape of my caricatures of the Royal Academy, 1889.
The Confessions of a Caricaturist, Vol. 1 (of 2) Harry Furniss

They were not caricatures, as one might suppose, but rural scenes à la Watteau, and allegorical subjects.
‘Phiz’ (Hablot Knight Browne), a Memoir. Fred. G. Kitton

“No, I have never seen any French caricatures,” she answered.
A Soldier of the Legion C. N. Williamson

In the description of his caricatures which follow, we shall indicate the designs which belong to this class with an asterisk.
English Caricaturists and Graphic Humourists of the Nineteenth Century. Graham Everitt

noun
a pictorial, written, or acted representation of a person, which exaggerates his characteristic traits for comic effect
a ludicrously inadequate or inaccurate imitation: he is a caricature of a statesman
verb
(transitive) to represent in caricature or produce a caricature of
n.

1748 (figurative), 1750 (literal), from French caricature (18c.), from Italian caricatura “satirical picture; an exaggeration,” literally “an overloading,” from caricare “to load, exaggerate,” from Vulgar Latin carricare “to load a car” (see charge (v.)). The Italian form had been used in English from 1680s and was common 18c.
v.

1749, from caricature (n.). Related: Caricatured; caricaturing.

In art or literature, portrayal of an individual or thing that exaggerates and distorts prominent characteristics so as to make them appear ridiculous. Caricature is commonly a medium for satire.