Definition of absurd
1 : ridiculously unreasonable, unsound, or incongruous an absurd argument : extremely silly or ridiculous absurd humor
2 : having no rational or orderly relationship to human life : meaningless an absurd universe; also : lacking order or value an absurd existence
3 : dealing with the absurd (see 2absurd) or with absurdism absurd theater
absurdly
adverbabsurdness
nounExplore M-W
Examples of absurd in a Sentence
In an era when federal judges issue rulings that in their impact often rival the lawmaking of any legislature in the land, it is increasingly absurd that their proceedings should remain off-limits to the same wider public scrutiny that news cameras have brought to courts in 48 states. —Editor & Publisher, 14 July 2003
By the time Showalter was fired one day after the end of last season, the stories of how he carried his attention to detail to absurd lengths—including his insistence that the A on the players' socks be completely visible—had been well circulated. —Phil Taylor, Sports Illustrated, 30 July 2001
This criticism, patently absurd to anyone who has read even a handful of Updike's more than 40 books, nevertheless has been made so often that it is worth Pritchard's long rebuttal. —Jonathan Wilson, New York Times Book Review, 24 Sept. 2000
Yet from time to time, virtually every parent falls back on threats, often absurd ones that leave Mom and Dad feeling foolish and the problem unresolved. —Dorothy Foltz-Gray, Parenting, December/January 1996
The charges against him are obviously absurd.
absurd claims of having been abducted by UFO's
Recent Examples of absurd from the Web
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Just a few months ago, the notion of China as the savior of international order would have struck most as fanciful, even absurd.
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Like many Americans, I’ve started ordering an absurd number of items online in the last several years: clothes, toilet paper, and food.
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In some ways even the awful Revenge of the Sith—a markedly worse film than Rogue One —still serves as a better bridge to the original 1977 film by upping the campy melodrama to an absurd degree.
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Over-the-top amenities at a new condo seem doubly absurd when they’re drawn as cartoons with quirky captions.
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For an idea of just how absurd a 66-minute inning is, the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Phillies once played an entire nine-inning game in 51 minutes.
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A literary novel with a squirrel subplot may sound improbable, yet McKenzie adroitly skirts the line between the plausible and the absurd.
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To churn out quick dollars in the education business, for-profits accept anyone willing to pay absurd costs for a poor education.
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The industry’s early attempts to stop car-sharing services involved lobbying for absurd mandates.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'absurd'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Making Sense of Absurd
Absurd contains the rarer related adjective surd, which, like absurd, derives from the Latin surdus ("deaf, silent, stupid").
Surd can mean "lacking sense or irrational," much like absurd:
While the grandparents might scratch their heads at the Star Wars references, the actors and perhaps some younger parents likely delighted in manic, jumbled and surd structure of the play.
–Patrick Clement, Kiowa County Signal (Greensburg, Kansas), 23 Jan. 2013
Absurd, however, stresses a lack of logical sense or harmonious agreement, of parts (such as a premise and a conclusion) not fitting together. In philosophy, it describes the problem of trying to distill meaning from one's experiences. In A Discourse on Novelty and Creation (1975), Carl R. Hausman writes, "There is an incongruity, an inconsistency, a conflict with a context that appears as lawful, orderly experience. As [Albert] Camus points out, absurdity 'springs from a comparison,' a comparison between two aspects of reality which seem to be out of harmony."
Definition of absurd
: the state or condition in which human beings exist in an irrational and meaningless universe and in which human life has no ultimate meaning —usually used with the the theater of the absurd
Origin and Etymology of absurd
borrowed from French (l')absurde, derivative of absurde 1absurd
First Known Use: 1946
ABSURD Defined for Kids
absurd
playDefinition of absurd for Students
: completely foolish, unreasonable, or untrue : ridiculous His claims are absurd.
absurdly
adverbLearn More about absurd
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See words that rhyme with absurd Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for absurd Spanish Central: Translation of absurd Nglish: Translation of absurd for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of absurd for Arabic speakers
Seen and Heard
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