incongruity
Americannoun
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something incongruous
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the state or quality of being incongruous
Etymology
Origin of incongruity
From the Late Latin word incongruitās, dating back to 1525–35. See in- 3, congruity
Explanation
Incongruity means out of place — something that doesn't fit in its location or situation. The art show patrons couldn't help but chuckle at the incongruity of a toilet sitting in the middle of an exhibition of Renaissance paintings. An incongruity is very different from everything around it, to the point of being inappropriate to the situation. A cat at a dog's birthday party would be an incongruity, as would a pacifist at a meeting of the War Lovers' Society. Incongruity is the idea that something is incongruous, or inappropriate. A purple towel is an incongruity in an all black-and-white bathroom.
Vocabulary lists containing incongruity
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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This Week in Pop Culture: May 4–10, 2019
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Just Mercy
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Incongruity is one of the fundamental forces in the universe of comedy: take two things that don’t usually belong together; throw them into the same sentence; hilarity ensues.
From The Guardian • Feb. 10, 2017
Incongruity has a lot going for it—jokes with punch lines, for example, fit well.
From Slate • Mar. 24, 2014
A group of Canadian researchers reported on "Ethnic Humor as a Function of Social-Normative Incongruity on the Basis of Multiple Dependent Variables."
From Time Magazine Archive
Incongruity sparked a scarcely-controllable impulse to hysterical laughter.
From The Short Life by Donovan, Francis
Incongruity, or the association of dissimilar ideas, is the most frequent cause of laughter to his readers.
From History of American Literature by Halleck, Reuben Post
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
