Absurdity Meaning
/əbˈsɜːd.ɪ.ti/Definition, CEFR level C2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounThat which is absurd; an absurd action; a logical contradiction.
nounThe quality of being absurd or inconsistent with obvious truth, reason, or sound judgment.
Sentence Examples
They say everything's bigger in Texas, and that includes absurdity in law enforcement.
Twitter is a good example of absurdity.
The absurdity of the situation was almost comical.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The idea of a fish climbing a tree is an utter ____ that makes no sense.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She laughed at the sheer ____ of the situation she was in.
Word Origin & History
First attested around 1472. From Middle English absurdite, then from either Middle French absurdité, or from Late Latin absurditas (“dissonance, incongruity”), from Latin absurdus + -itas (“quality, state, degree”). Equivalent to absurd + -ity.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"And it is a fact that in these two days the boy had almost talked over his mother, too; had parried all her objections one after another with that indignant good sense which is often the perfection of absurdity …"
— 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 7, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC:
"The absurdity of the actual idea of an infinite number"
— 1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset, […], →OCLC:
"Neither [Jones][…] nor I (in 1966) could conceive of reducing our "science" to the ultimate absurdity of reading Finnish newspapers almost a century and a half old in order to establish "priority.""
— 1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page viii:
"There's credit too for highlighting the problems of Manchester's Castlefield Corridor, where he showed the absurdity of building Ordsall Chord to feed more trains into the congested corridor without upgrading the corridor itself."
— 2023 July 12, Philip Haigh, “Narrow narrative overlooks past and present achievements”, in RAIL, number 987, page 50:
Explore More C2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The idea of a fish climbing a tree is an utter ____ that makes no sense.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She laughed at the sheer ____ of the situation she was in.