reductio ad absurdum

[ ri-duhk-tee-oh adab-sur-duhm, -zur-, -shee-oh ]

nounLogic.
  1. a reduction to an absurdity; the refutation of a proposition by demonstrating the inevitably absurd conclusion to which it would logically lead.

Origin of reductio ad absurdum

1
First recorded in 1735–45, reductio ad absurdum is from Latin reductiō ad absurdum

Words Nearby reductio ad absurdum

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use reductio ad absurdum in a sentence

  • Not even the transformed "Tom Thumb" could be called an effective reductio ad absurdum of the Italian opera of those days.

    A Book of Burlesque | Willam Davenport Adams
  • His pictures look like a visible reductio ad absurdum of it all.

    Essays on Art | A. Clutton-Brock
  • To suppose, therefore, that the limitations of the law are an integral portion of the law itself is a reductio ad absurdum.

British Dictionary definitions for reductio ad absurdum

reductio ad absurdum

/ (rɪˈdʌktɪəʊ æd æbˈsɜːdəm) /


noun
  1. a method of disproving a proposition by showing that its inevitable consequences would be absurd

  2. a method of indirectly proving a proposition by assuming its negation to be true and showing that this leads to an absurdity

  1. application of a principle or proposed principle to an instance in which it is absurd

Origin of reductio ad absurdum

1
Latin, literally: reduction to the absurd

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012