reductio ad absurdum
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
1Words 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
It would be only fitting, the reductio ad absurdum of our divided age, for this election to take two extra months.
As symbol, Phelps was the reductio ad absurdum of many conservative beliefs.
Palermo practiced a reductio ad absurdum without quite becoming absurd.
It seeks to establish truth by refuting error through the reductio ad absurdum.
Beacon Lights of History, Volume I | John LordHe is to biology what the late Camille Flammarion was to astronomy, which is to say, its court jester and reductio ad absurdum.
Damn! | Henry Louis Mencken
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 AdamsHis pictures look like a visible reductio ad absurdum of it all.
Essays on Art | A. Clutton-BrockTo suppose, therefore, that the limitations of the law are an integral portion of the law itself is a reductio ad absurdum.
The Creative Process in the Individual | Thomas Troward
British Dictionary definitions for reductio ad absurdum
/ (rɪˈdʌktɪəʊ æd æbˈsɜːdəm) /
a method of disproving a proposition by showing that its inevitable consequences would be absurd
a method of indirectly proving a proposition by assuming its negation to be true and showing that this leads to an absurdity
application of a principle or proposed principle to an instance in which it is absurd
Origin of reductio ad absurdum
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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