absurd

1. Absurd, ridiculous, preposterous all mean inconsistent with reason or common sense. Absurd means utterly opposed to truth or reason: an absurd claim. Ridiculous implies that something is fit only to be laughed at, perhaps contemptuously: a ridiculous suggestion. Preposterous implies an extreme of foolishness: a preposterous proposal.

OTHER WORDS FROM absurd

ab·surd·ly, adverbab·surd·ness, nounsu·per·ab·surd, adjectivesu·per·ab·surd·ly, adverb

su·per·ab·surd·ness, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use absurd in a sentence

It’s absurd and infuriating that eight months into this pandemic, we’re still exactly where we startedCoronavirus infections are spiking uncontrollably.
Restaurants and the People Who Work in Them Need a Bailout. Let’s Finally Give Them One.|Meghan McCarron|November 19, 2020|Eater
“They’re engaged in an absurd circus right now refusing to accept reality … making it even harder to address the massive health and economic crisis that we are facing,” Pelosi said at a joint news conference with Schumer at the Capitol.
Democrats allege GOP refusal to accept election results is imperiling U.S. coronavirus response as cases, deaths spike|Erica Werner|November 12, 2020|Washington Post
Proctorio, he added, also blocked his Internet-protocol address, potentially preventing him from using it for future exams in what he called an “absurd” act of retribution.
Cheating-detection companies made millions during the pandemic. Now students are fighting back.|Drew Harwell|November 12, 2020|Washington Post
He rushed for 206 yards in the Minnesota Vikings’ 34-20 victory over the Detroit Lions, and in his past two games he has an absurd 478 scrimmage yards and six touchdowns.
What to know for NFL Week 9: Tua Tagovailoa arrives, and Tom Brady’s Buccaneers take a beating|Adam Kilgore|November 9, 2020|Washington Post

It would be absurd if anything close to that magnitude happened.
The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party has met a sobering reality: A pandemic|Emily Giambalvo|November 5, 2020|Washington Post
All this buzz, the continued tabloid fascination with Hurley, is down—absurdly—to that dress.
Happy 20th Birthday, Liz Hurley’s Safety-Pin Dress|Tim Teeman|December 12, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Hughes and Eldridge are not “role models for a future generation of… gay people,” as The Advocate absurdly stated.
The Rise and Fall of Chris Hughes and Sean Eldridge, America’s Worst Gay Power Couple|James Kirchick|December 9, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The problem runs far deeper, to an absurdly narrow legal definition of ‘corruption’ that throws democracy on the trash heap.
Undo Citizens United? We’d Only Scratch the Surface|Jedediah Purdy|November 12, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Absurdly, even our battlefield troops must now consider the risk of being sued in UK courts by enemy fighters.
Britain’s PM Cameron And His Awful Assault on Human Rights Court|Nico Hines|October 3, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Chefchaouen, shut off from the world for centuries, is almost absurdly picturesque.
Morocco's Secret All-Blue City|Nina Strochlic|August 28, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Every human being behind that absurdly inadequate wall was exposed to constant and equal danger.
The Red Year|Louis Tracy
Isabel suddenly felt herself and her organdie absurdly out of place in this room with its enchantress atmosphere.
Ancestors|Gertrude Atherton
Her affectation of extreme youth was so absurdly ridiculous, that it made her appear older and uglier than she really was.
The World Before Them|Susanna Moodie
No one, apparently, took the slightest notice of his absurdly wild behaviour.
Three More John Silence Stories|Algernon Blackwood
Leech, the caricaturist,—one of the most absurdly over-rated men of this century,—was at Charterhouse from 1825 to 1831.
The Portsmouth Road and Its Tributaries|Charles G. Harper

British Dictionary definitions for absurd

absurd

/ (əbˈsɜːd) /

adjective

at variance with reason; manifestly false

ludicrous; ridiculous

noun

the absurd (sometimes capital) philosophy the conception of the world, esp in Existentialist thought, as neither designed nor predictable but irrational and meaningless

Derived forms of absurd

absurdity or absurdness, nounabsurdly, adverb

Word Origin for absurd

C16: via French from Latin absurdus dissonant, senseless, from ab- 1 (intensive) + surdus dull-sounding, indistinct

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

absurd

OTHER WORDS FOR absurd

OPPOSITES FOR absurd

Origin of absurd

synonym study for absurd

OTHER WORDS FROM absurd

Words related to absurd

How to use absurd in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for absurd

Derived forms of absurd

Word Origin for absurd