Dictionary

absurd

Etymology

First attested in 1557. From Middle French absurde, from Latin absurdus, from ab ("away from, out") + surdus ("silent, deaf, dull-sounding").

Pronunciation

Adjective

absurd (comparative absurder, superlative absurdest)

Contrary to reason or propriety; obviously and flatly opposed to manifest truth; inconsistent with the plain dictates of common sense; logically contradictory; nonsensical; ridiculous; silly. [from mid-16th c.]
- 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act V, scene iv]:
  This proffer is absurd and reasonless.
- 1734, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […], epistle IV, London: Printed for J[ohn] Wilford, […], →OCLC ↗:
  'Tis phrase absurd to call a villain great
- 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XVII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC ↗:
  “Perhaps it is because I have been excommunicated. It's absurd, but I feel like the Jackdaw of Rheims.” ¶ She winced and bowed her head. Each time that he spoke flippantly of the Church he caused her pain.
(obsolete) Inharmonious; dissonant. [only early 17th c.]
Having no rational or orderly relationship to people's lives; meaningless; lacking order or value.
Dealing with absurdism.

Synonyms

Translations

Noun

absurd (plural absurds)

(obsolete) An absurdity. [early 17th]
(philosophy, often preceded by the) The opposition between the human search for meaning in life and the inability to find any; the state or condition in which man exists in an irrational universe and his life has no meaning outside of his existence. [from early 20th century in English; from mid-19th century in Danish by Søren Kierkegaard]

Translations

Translations

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