Word of the Day

: November 14, 2019

incongruous

adjective in-KAHN-gruh-wus

What It Means

: lacking congruity: as

a : not harmonious : incompatible

b : not conforming : disagreeing

c : inconsistent within itself

d : lacking propriety : unsuitable

incongruous in Context

The sight of a horse and carriage amongst the cars on the road was a bit incongruous.

"The gunplay scene was so incongruous with the rest of the film that one wonders if [director Michael] Engler added the assassination storyline to simply beef up the movie's runtime." — John Vaaler, The Middlebury (Vermont) Campus, 3 Oct. 2019

Did You Know?

Incongruous is a spin-off of its antonym, congruous, which means "in agreement, harmony, or correspondence." Etymologists are in agreement about the origin of both words: they trace to the Latin congruus, from the verb congruere, which means "to come together" or "to agree." The dates of these words' first uses in English match up pretty well, too. Both words are first known to have appeared in English in the early 1580s.