absurd
/əbˈsəːd
/adjective
1Wildly unreasonable, illogical, or inappropriate: the allegations are patently absurd...
- By the end of the programme, it was athletes and fans who hung themselves in public with their own illogical justifications and absurd piety.
- It is absurd to blame current difficulties on any state's governor, Republican or Democrat.
- When that happens heads are going to roll even if it happens in such a way so that placing blame is absurd.
Synonyms
preposterous, ridiculous, ludicrous, farcical, laughable, risible;
idiotic, stupid, foolish, silly, inane, imbecilic, insane, hare-brained;
unreasonable, irrational, illogical, nonsensical, pointless, senseless;
outrageous, shocking, astonishing, monstrous, fantastic, incongruous, grotesque;
unbelievable, incredible, unthinkable, implausible
informal crazy
British informal barmy, daft
1.1Arousing amusement or derision; ridiculous: short skirts and knee socks looked absurd on such a tall girl...
- In my endless pursuit of funny stories about Eskimo words for snow, I've found friends who will send me absurd comics about it, too.
- The result is a mixed platter: Hilariously absurd one minute, farcically annoying the next, and damn surreal all of the time.
- It has become overpriced, overrated and overrun with ridiculous people who live absurd lives.
noun (the absurd)
An absurd state of affairs: the incidents that followed bordered on the absurd...
- The idea that raw-milk cheese poses a public-health menace in the same category as cigarettes borders on the absurd.
- The advice given to those affected by the potato blight bordered on the absurd.
- When I think of the present it appears to be a drama of the absurd.
Origin
Mid 16th century: from Latin absurdus 'out of tune', hence 'irrational'; related to surdus 'deaf, dull'.
One sense of the Latin word absurdus was ‘out of tune’, and in the past absurd was occasionally used with this meaning. From this Latin sense it developed the meaning ‘out of harmony with reason, irrational’. The term Theatre of the Absurd, describing drama by writers such as Samuel Beckett (1906–1989), Eugène Ionesco (1904–1994), and Harold Pinter (1930–2008), was coined by the critic Martin Esslin (1918–2002) in 1961.