First attested around 1472. From Middle English absurdite, then from either Middle French absurdité, or from Late Latin absurditas, from Latin absurdus + -itas.

• (RP) IPA: /əbˈsɜːd.ɪ.ti/
• (America) IPA: /æbˈsɝd.ɪ.ti/, /æbˈzɝd.ɪ.ti/, /əbˈsɝd.ɪ.ti/, /əbˈzɝd.ɪ.ti/

absurdity

1. (countable) That which is absurd; an absurd action; a logical contradiction. [First attested in the late 15^th century.]
   • 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 7, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC ↗:

     And it is a fact that in these two days the boy had almost talked over his mother, too; had parried all her objections one after another with that indignant good sense which is often the perfection of absurdity …

2. (uncountable) The quality of being absurd or inconsistent with obvious truth, reason, or sound judgment. [First attested in the early 16^th century.]
   • 1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset, […], →OCLC ↗:

     The absurdity of the actual idea of an infinite number

   • 1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page viii:

     Neither [Jones] […] nor I (in 1966) could conceive of reducing our "science" to the ultimate absurdity of reading Finnish newspapers almost a century and a half old in order to establish "priority."

3. (obsolete, rare) Dissonance. [Attested from around 1350 to 1470 until the late 17^th century.]

• German: Absurdität
• Italian: assurdità
• Portuguese: absurdo, absurdidade
• Russian: абсу́рд
• Spanish: absurdo, absurdidad

• German: Absurdität
• Italian: assurdità
• Portuguese: absurdidade
• Russian: абсу́рдность
• Spanish: absurdidad