absurd
UK/əbˈsɜːd//əbˈsɚd/
absurd adjective: 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.
Adjective
absurd (comparative absurder or more absurd, superlative absurdest or most absurd)
- 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.
- 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]...
- 'Tis phrase absurd to call a villain great1734, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […], epistle IV, London: […] J[ohn] Wilford, […], →OCLC
- Synonyms:
- foolish, irrational, ridiculous, preposterous, ludicrous
- Inharmonious; dissonant.
- Synonyms:
- inconsistent, incongruous
- 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
- Dealing with absurdism.
Noun
absurd (plural absurds)
- An absurdity.
- The 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.
absurd meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
absurd in Hindi
- absurd, meaningless, pointless
- बेतुका betukā
absurd in Tamil
- அபத்தமான, முட்டாள்தனமான, அறிவுகுறைந்த, பேதைமை வாய்ந்த, பொருளற்ற, நகைப்புக்கிடமான
absurd in Urdu
- absurd
- لغو lağv, محال muhāl
absurd in Bengali
- অসংগত, অযৌক্তিক, অদ্ভুত, হাস্যকর
More languagesFewer languages
- absurd in Malayalam
- അസംബന്ധമായ, അസംഗത, യുക്തിഹീനമായ, അസമഞ്ജസ
- absurd in Kannada
- ನಗೆಗೀಡಾದ, ನಗೆಪಾಟಲಾದ, ಅಸಂಗತ, ನಿರರ್ಥಕ
- absurd in Arabic
- عَبَثِيّ ʕabaṯiyy, سَخِيف saḵīf
- absurd in Indonesian
- tak masuk akal, absurd
- absurd in Thai
- บ้า bâa
- absurd in Vietnamese
- hoang đường
Examples of absurd in a sentence
- It's absurd, but I feel like the Jackdaw of Rheims.” ¶ She winced and bowed her head.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 am1979, “The Logical Song”, in Roger Hodgson (lyrics), Breakfast in America, performed by Supertramp:
Synonyms of absurd
- foolish
- irrational
- ridiculous
- preposterous
- ludicrous
- inconsistent
- incongruous
- Laputan
- cockamamie
- cockeyed
9 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of absurd
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | absurder |
| comparative | more absurd |
| superlative | absurdest |
| superlative | most absurd |
| Noun | |
| plural | absurds |
Origin of absurd
First attested in 1557. From Middle French absurde, from Latin absurdus (“incongruous, dissonant, out of tune”), from ab (“away from, out”) + surdus (“silent, deaf, dull-sounding”). Compare surd.
Words formed from absurd
Words that rhyme with absurd
35 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about absurd
- What does absurd mean?
- Absurd means 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.
- What is absurd in Hindi?
- Absurd in Hindi is बेतुका (betukā). See Absurd meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use absurd in a sentence?
- It's absurd, but I feel like the Jackdaw of Rheims.” ¶ She winced and bowed her head.
- What part of speech is absurd?
- Absurd can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce absurd?
- Absurd is pronounced /əbˈsɜːd/ (UK).
Words near absurd in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: absurd (page history and authors); बेतुका (Hindi) (page history and authors); absurd (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); لغو (Urdu) (page history and authors); absurd (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); absurd (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); absurd (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-absurd.ogg.
Cite this entry: “absurd.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/absurd. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.