Word.ws English Dictionary

reductios ad absurdum

reductios ad absurdum is the plural of reductio ad absurdum.

Meaning of reductio ad absurdum

Noun

reductio ad absurdum (usually uncountable, plural reductio ad absurdums)

  1. (usually) The method of disproving a statement by assuming the statement is true and, with that assumption, arriving at a blatant contradiction.
    • “You, gentlemen, as representatives of that institution which recognizes only truths that are deduced from reductio ad absurdums will probably have no difficulty in perceiving the truth of this absurdity and hence be ready to excuse the outcome of it—my absence.”1894, Flora Helm, “Concerns a Talk in Which Anarchy and Love Are Blended”, in Between Two Forces: A Record of a Theory and a Passion, Boston, Mass.: Arena Publishing Company. […], pages 149–150

Questions about reductios ad absurdum

What is reductios ad absurdum the plural of?
Reductios ad absurdum is the plural of reductio ad absurdum.

Words near reductios ad absurdum in the dictionary

  1. reductionistic
  2. reductionistically
  3. reductionists
  4. reductions
  5. reductions in force
  6. reductios ad absurdum
  7. reductisol
  8. reductisols
  9. reductive
  10. reductively
  11. reductiveness

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: reductios ad absurdum (page history and authors); reductio ad absurdum (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.

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