ludicrous
Americanadjective
adjective
Synonym Usage
See funny 1.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of ludicrous
1610–20; from Latin lūdicrus “sportive,” equivalent to lūdicr(um) “a show, public games” ( lūdi-, stem of lūdere “to play” + -crum noun suffix of instrument or result) + -us -ous
Explanation
Ludicrous things are funny, absurd, or nonsensical. If someone says something silly or far-fetched, you could say "That's ludicrous!" Ludicrous originally meant something that was funny, playful, or joking: a ludicrous comment was just a really funny comment. Over time, ludicrous took on a more negative flavor. Now a ludicrous statement might be funny, but it's also ridiculous, hard to believe, off the wall, or even stupid. When people say "That idea is ludicrous!" it usually means the idea could never happen: the notion is laughable. Saying Neil Armstrong was the third President would be a ludicrous statement.
Vocabulary lists containing ludicrous
A Raisin in the Sun
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The Hunger Games
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Unit 1: Telling Details
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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.
For 10 days, the center of the cinematic universe is the Toronto International Film Festival, whose closest geographical landmark is currently a ludicrous controversy.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 13, 2026
What about the faintly ludicrous figure of the foregoing 100-plus minutes was supposed to make me care about his moral compass?
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 5, 2026
But some are prone to ludicrous circumlocutions like “Johnny faces challenges in the lived experience of interactions with his peer group in educational spaces,” instead of “Johnny doesn’t get along with his classmates.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026
Team Burnham, for their part, dismissed this idea of delay as "absolutely ludicrous".
From BBC ● Jun. 17, 2026
“This must be the influence of that ludicrous representative of the law. He seems to have turned you against your own child. By the way, he has left, hasn’t he?”
From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole
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.
