absurd

• POS: Adjective
• HYPHEN: ab=surd

CIDE DICTIONARY

absurd, a. [L. absurdus harsh-sounding; ab + (prob) a derivative fr. a root svar to sound; not connected with surd: cf. F. absurde. See Syringe.].

 Contrary to reason or propriety; obviously and flatly opposed to manifest truth; inconsistent with the plain dictates of common sense; logically contradictory; nonsensical; ridiculous; as, an absurd person, an absurd opinion; an absurd dream.  [1913 Webster]
"This proffer is absurd and reasonless."  [1913 Webster]
"'This phrase absurd to call a villain great."  [1913 Webster]

Syn. -- Foolish; irrational; ridiculous; preposterous; inconsistent; incongruous.

absurd, n. 

 An absurdity.  Pope.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

absurd, adj.
1 (of an idea, suggestion, etc.) wildly unreasonable, illogical, or inappropriate.
2 (of a person) unreasonable or ridiculous in manner.
3 (of a thing) ludicrous, incongruous (an absurd hat; the situation was becoming absurd).

Derivative

absurdly adv. absurdness n.

Etymology

F absurde or L absurdus (as AB-, surdus deaf, dull)

THESAURUS

absurd

Pickwickian, a bit thick, a bit thin, abnormal, amusing, anomalous, asinine, balmy, barred, beyond belief, bizarre, childish, closed-out, cockamamie, comic, contrary to reason, crazy, curious, daft, disproportionate, doubtable, doubtful, droll, dubious, dubitable, eccentric, empty, excluded, extravagant, fantastic, farcical, fatuitous, fatuous, foolish, freaked out, freaky, funny, futile, grotesque, hard of belief, hard to believe, harebrained, high-flown, hilarious, hollow, hopeless, humorous, idiotic, idle, illogical, imbecile, imbecilic, implausible, impossible, inane, incoherent, incommensurable, incommensurate, incompatible, inconceivable, incongruous, inconsequent, inconsistent, inconsonant, incredible, insane, irrational, irreconcilable, kooky, laughable, logically impossible, loony, ludicrous, mad, meaningless, monstrous, moronic, nonsensical, not deserving belief, not possible, nuts, nutty, odd, oddball, off, off the wall, open to doubt, open to suspicion, out, out of proportion, outlandish, outrageous, outre, oxymoronic, paradoxical, passing belief, passing strange, peculiar, poppycockish, potty, preposterous, priceless, problematic, prohibited, quaint, queer, questionable, quizzical, rich, ridiculous, risible, rubbishy, ruled-out, screaming, self-contradictory, senseless, silly, simple, singular, skimble-skamble, staggering belief, strange, stupid, suspect, suspicious, tall, thick, thin, trashy, twaddling, twaddly, unbelievable, unconvincing, unearthly, ungodly, unimaginable, unreasonable, unsound, unthinkable, unworthy of belief, vain, wacky, weird, whimsical, wild, witty, wondrous strange

ROGET THESAURUS

absurd

Impossibility

N impossibility, what cannot, what can never be, sour grapes, hopelessness, impossible, not possible, absurd, contrary to reason, unlikely, unreasonable, incredible, beyond the bounds of reason, beyond the bounds of possibility, beyond the realm of possibility, from which reason recoils, visionary, inconceivable, prodigious, unimaginable, inimaginable, unthinkable, impracticable unachievable, unfeasible, infeasible, insuperable, unsurmountable, insurmountable, unattainable, unobtainable, out of reach, out of the question, not to be had, not to be thought of, beyond control, desperate, incompatible, inaccessible, uncomeatable, impassable, impervious, innavigable, inextricable, self- contradictory, out of one's power, beyond one's power, beyond one's depth, beyond one's reach, beyond one's grasp, too much for, ultra crepidam, the grapes are sour, non possumus, non nostrum tantas componere lites, look for a needle in a haystack, chercher une aiguille dans une botte de foin, il a le mer +a boire.

Absurdity

N absurdity, absurdness, imbecility alogy, nonsense, utter nonsense, paradox, inconsistency, stultiloquy, stultiloquence, nugacity, blunder, muddle, bull, Irishism, Hibernicism, slipslop, anticlimax, bathos, sophism, farce, galimathias, amphigouri, rhapsody, farrago, betise, extravagance, romance, sciamachy, sell, pun, verbal quibble, macaronic, jargon, fustian, twaddle, gibberish, exaggeration, moonshine, stuff, mare's nest, quibble, self- delusion, vagary, tomfoolery, poppycock, mummery, monkey trick, boutade, escapade, absurd, nonsensical, preposterous, egregious, senseless, inconsistent, ridiculous, extravagant, quibbling, self-annulling, self- contradictory, macaronic, punning, foolish sophistical, unmeaning, without rhyme or reason, fantastic, Int, fiddlededee!, pish!, pho!, in the name of the Prophet--figs!, credat Judaeus Apella, tell it to the marines.

Folly

N imbecility folly, want of intelligence &c, want of intellect, shadowness, silliness, foolishness, imbecility, incapacity, vacancy of mind, poverty of intellect, weakness of intellect, clouded perception, poor head, apartments to let, stupidity, stolidity, hebetude, dull understanding, meanest capacity, shortsightedness, incompetence, one's weak side, not one's strong point, bias, infatuation, simplicity, puerility, babyhood, dotage, anility, second childishness, fatuity, idiocy, idiotism, driveling, folly, frivolity, irrationality, trifling, ineptitude, nugacity, inconsistency, lip wisdom, conceit, sophistry, giddiness, eccentricity, extravagance, rashness, act of folly, unintelligent, unintellectual, unreasoning, mindless, witless, reasoningless, brainless, halfbaked, having no head, not bright, inapprehensible, weak headed, addle headed, puzzle headed, blunder headed, muddle headed, muddy headed, pig headed, beetle headed, buffle headed, chuckle headed, mutton headed, maggoty headed, grossheaded, beef headed, fat witted, fat-headed, weak-minded, feeble-minded, dull minded, shallow minded, lack- brained, rattle-brained, rattle headed, half witted, lean witted, short witted, dull witted, blunt-witted, shallow-pated, clod-pated, addle- pated, addle-brained, dim-sighted, short-sighted, thick-skulled, weak in the upper story, shallow, borne, weak, wanting, soft, sappy, spoony, dull, dull as a beetle, stupid, heavy, insulse, obtuse, blunt, stolid, doltish, asinine, inapt, prosaic, hebetudinous, childish, child-like, infantine, infantile, babyish, babish, puerile, anile, simple, old-womanish, fatuous, idiotic, imbecile, driveling, blatant, babbling, vacant, sottish, bewildered, blockish, unteachable Boeotian, Boeotic, bovine, ungifted, undiscerning, unenlightened, unwise, unphilosophical, apish, simious, foolish, silly, senseless, irrational, insensate, nonsensical, inept, maudlin, narrow-minded, bigoted, giddy, rash, eccentric, foolish, unwise, injudicious, improper, unreasonable, without reason, ridiculous, absurd, idiotic, silly, stupid, asinine, ill-imagined, ill-advised, ill-judged, ill-devised, mal entendu, inconsistent, irrational, unphilosophical, extravagant, sleeveless, idle, pointless, useless, inexpedient, frivolous, Davus sum non, a fool's bolt is soon shot clitellae bovi sunt im, fools rush in where angels fear to tread, il n' a ni bouche ni eperon, the bookful blockhead, ignorantly read, to varnish nonsense with the charms of sound.