preposterous

• POS: Adjective
• HYPHEN: pre=pos=ter=ous

CIDE DICTIONARY

preposterous, a. [L. praeposterus; prae before + posterus coming after, latter. See Posterior.].

•  Having that first which ought to be last; inverted in order.  [1913 Webster]

  "The method I take may be censured as preposterous, because I thus treat last of the antediluvian earth, which was first in the order of nature."  [1913 Webster]
•  Contrary to nature or reason; not adapted to the end; utterly and glaringly foolish; unreasonably absurd; perverted.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]

  "Preposterous ass, that never read so far!"  [1913 Webster]

Syn. -- Absurd; perverted; wrong; irrational; foolish; monstrous. See Absurd.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

preposterous, adj.
1 utterly absurd; outrageous.
2 contrary to nature, reason, or common sense.

Derivative

preposterously adv. preposterousness n.

Etymology

L praeposterus reversed, absurd (as PRAE-, posterus coming after)

THESAURUS

preposterous

Gothic, a bit thick, a bit thin, absurd, asinine, balmy, barmy, baroque, barred, batty, beyond belief, bizarre, brain-born, closed-out, cockamamie, contrary to reason, crazy, cuckoo, cutthroat, dotty, doubtable, doubtful, dream-built, dubious, dubitable, exacting, excessive, excluded, exorbitant, extortionate, extraordinary, extravagant, extreme, fanciful, fancy, fancy-born, fancy-built, fancy-woven, fantasque, fantastic, fatuitous, fatuous, florid, foolish, gouging, grossly overpriced, grotesque, hard of belief, hard to believe, harebrained, high-flown, hopeless, idiotic, imbecilic, immoderate, implausible, impossible, inconceivable, incredible, inflationary, inordinate, insane, irrational, laughable, logically impossible, loony, ludicrous, mad, maggoty, mindless, monstrous, moronic, nonmeritorious, nonsensical, not coming, not deserving belief, not outstanding, not possible, notional, nutty, open to doubt, open to suspicion, out of bounds, out of sight, outlandish, outrageous, outre, overpriced, oxymoronic, paradoxical, passing belief, poppycockish, potty, problematic, prohibited, prohibitive, questionable, ridiculous, risible, rococo, ruled-out, screwy, self-contradictory, senseless, silly, skyrocketing, spiraling, staggering belief, suspect, suspicious, tall, thick, thin, unbelievable, unconscionable, unconvincing, undeserved, undeserving, undue, unearned, unearthly, unentitled, ungodly, unimaginable, unjustified, unmerited, unmeriting, unowed, unowing, unreasonable, unthinkable, unwarranted, unworthy, unworthy of belief, usurious, wacky, weird, whimsical, wild

ROGET THESAURUS

preposterous

Greatness

N greatness, magnitude, size, multitude, immensity, enormity, infinity, might, strength, intensity, fullness, importance, great quantity, quantity, deal, power, sight, pot, volume, world, mass, heap, stock, peck, bushel, load, cargo, cartload, wagonload, shipload, flood, spring tide, abundance, principal part, chief part, main part, greater part, major part, best part, essential part, bulk, mass, great, greater, large, considerable, fair, above par, big, huge, Herculean, cyclopean, ample, abundant, full, intense, strong, sound, passing, heavy, plenary, deep, high, signal, at its height, in the zenith, world-wide, widespread, far-famed, extensive, wholesale, many, goodly, noble, precious, mighty, sad, grave, heavy, serious, far gone, arrant, downright, utter, uttermost, crass, gross, arch, profound, intense, consummate, rank, uninitiated, red-hot, desperate, glaring, flagrant, stark staring, thorough-paced, thoroughgoing, roaring, thumping, extraordinary, important, unsurpassed, complete, august, grand, dignified, sublime, majestic, vast, immense, enormous, extreme, inordinate, excessive, extravagant, exorbitant, outrageous, preposterous, unconscionable, swinging, monstrous, overgrown, towering, stupendous, prodigious, astonishing, incredible, marvelous, unlimited, unapproachable, unutterable, indescribable, ineffable, unspeakable, inexpressible, beyond expression, fabulous, undiminished, unabated, unreduced, unrestricted, absolute, positive, stark, decided, unequivocal, essential, perfect, finished, remarkable, of mark, marked, pointed, veriest, noteworthy, renowned, truly, decidedly, unequivocally, purely, absolutely, seriously, essentially, fundamentally, radically, downright, in all conscience, for the most part, in the main, entirely, abundantly, widely, far and wide, greatly, much, muckle, well, indeed, very, very much, a deal, no end of, most, not a little, pretty, pretty well, enough, in a great measure, richly, to a large extent, to a great extent, to a gigantic extent, on a large scale, so, never so, ever so, ever so dole, scrap, shred, tag, splinter, rag, much, by wholesale, mighty, powerfully, with a witness, ultra, in the extreme, extremely, exceedingly, intensely, exquisitely, acutely, indefinitely, immeasurably, beyond compare, beyond comparison, beyond measure, beyond all bounds, incalculably, infinitely, preeminently, superlatively, immoderately, monstrously, preposterously, inordinately, exorbitantly, excessively, enormously, out of all proportion, with a vengeance, particularly, remarkably, singularly, curiously, uncommonly, unusually, peculiarly, notably, signally, strikingly, pointedly, mainly, chiefly, famously, egregiously, prominently, glaringly, emphatically, kat exochin, strangely, wonderfully, amazingly, surprisingly, astonishingly, incredibly, marvelously, awfully, stupendously, peculiarly, furiously, severely, desperately, tremendously, extravagantly, confoundedly, deucedly, devilishly, with a vengeance, a outrance, a toute outrance, painfully, sadly, grossly, sorely, bitterly, piteously, grievously, miserably, cruelly, woefully, lamentably, shockingly, frightfully, dreadfully, fearfully, terribly, horribly, a maximis ad minima, greatness knows itself, mightiest powers by deepest calms are fed, minimum decet libere cui multum licet, some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.

Ridiculousness

N ridiculousness, comicality, oddity, extravagance, drollery, farce, comedy, burlesque, buffoonery, frippery, doggerel verses, absurdity, bombast, anticlimax, bathos, eccentricity, monstrosity, laughingstock, ridiculous, ludicrous, comical, droll, funny, laughable, pour rire, grotesque, farcical, odd, whimsical, whimsical as a dancing bear, fanciful, fantastic, queer, rum, quizzical, quaint, bizarre, screaming, eccentric, strange, outlandish, out of the way, baroque, weird, awkward, extravagant, outre, monstrous, preposterous, bombastic, inflated, stilted, burlesque, mock heroic, drollish, seriocomic, tragicomic, gimcrack, contemptible, doggerel, ironical, risible, risum teneatis amici, rideret Heraclitus, du sublime au ridicule il n'y a qu'un pas.

Undueness

N undueness, malum prohibitum, impropriety, illegality, falseness, emptiness of title, invalidity of title, illegitimacy, loss of right, disfranchisement, forfeiture, usurpation, tort, violation, breach, encroachment, presumption, assumption, seizure, stretch, exaction, imposition, lion's share, usurper, pretender, undue, unlawful, unconstitutional, illicit, unauthorized, unwarranted, disallowed, unallowed, unsanctioned, unjustified, unentitled, disentitled, unqualified, disqualified, unprivileged, unchartered, illegitimate, bastard, spurious, supposititious, false, usurped, tortious, undeserved, unmerited, unearned, unfulfilled, forfeited, disfranchised, improper, unmeet, unfit, unbefitting, unseemly, unbecoming, misbecoming, seemless, contra bonos mores, not the thing, out of the question, not to be thought of, preposterous, pretentious, would-be, filius nullius.

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.

Exaggeration

N exaggeration, expansion, hyperbole, stretch, strain, coloring, high coloring, caricature, caricatura, extravagance, Baron Munchausen, men in buckram, yarn, fringe, embroidery, traveler's tale, fish story, gooseberry, storm in a teacup, much ado about nothing, puff, puffery, rant, figure of speech, facon de parler, stretch of fancy, stretch of the imagination, flight of fancy, false coloring, aggravation, exaggerated, overwrought, bombastic, hyperbolical, on stilts, fabulous, extravagant, preposterous, egregious, outre, highflying, hyperbolically, excitabat enim fluctus in simpulo.