absurd

comparative absurder · comparative more absurd · superlative absurdest · superlative most absurd

1. 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.First known use mid-16th c.

   This proffer is absurd and reasonless.

   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]

   3 more examples

   'Tis phrase absurd to call a villain great

   1734, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […], epistle IV, London: […] J[ohn] Wilford, […], →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.

   1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XVII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC

   I know it sounds absurd / But please, tell me who I am

   1979, “The Logical Song”, in Roger Hodgson (lyrics), Breakfast in America, performed by Supertramp

   Synonyms: foolish, irrational, ridiculous, preposterous, ludicrous

2. obsoleteInharmonious; dissonant.First known use only early 17th c.

   Synonyms: inconsistent, incongruous

3. Having no rational or orderly relationship to people's lives; meaningless; lacking order or value.

   Adults have condemned them to live in what must seem like an absurd universe.

   1968 March 2, Joseph Featherstone, “A New Kind of Schooling”, in The New Republic

4. Dealing with absurdism.

plural absurds

1. obsoleteAn absurdity.First known use early 17th–mid 17th c.
2. often preceded by thehuman sciencesThe 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.First known use early 20th century in English