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incongruity

[in-kuh n-groo-i-tee, -kuh ng-]
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noun, plural in·con·gru·i·ties for 2.
  1. the quality or condition of being incongruous.
  2. something incongruous.
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Origin of incongruity

From the Late Latin word incongruitās, dating back to 1525–35. See in-3, congruity
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

inconsistencydifferencemismatchinappropriateness

Examples from the Web for incongruity

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • The picture is almost comic in its incongruity with what actually is.

  • Now, it is a mere anomaly and incongruity here, out of date and out of purpose.

    Little Dorrit

    Charles Dickens

  • There is the same element of incongruity, without the tragic consequence.

  • There is an incongruity about death on the battlefield which assails the mind.

    Mountain Meditations

    L. Lind-af-Hageby

  • He felt no incongruity in the veteran Parmenides correcting the youthful Socrates.

British Dictionary definitions for incongruity

incongruity

noun plural -ties
  1. something incongruous
  2. the state or quality of being incongruous
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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

Word Origin and History for incongruity

n.

1530s, from French incongruité or directly from Medieval Latin incongruitas, from Latin in- "not" (see in- (1)) + congruitas (see congruity).

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper