absurdity

CEFRC2

/əbˈsɜːd.ɪ.ti/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    Something that is completely unreasonable or ridiculous.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    The quality of being absurd or inconsistent with obvious truth, reason, or sound judgment.

Examples

  • The absurdity of the situation was almost comical.

  • They say everything's bigger in Texas, and that includes absurdity in law enforcement.

At a glance

Sits at C2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
3
Parts of speech
1
Citations
3

Also pronounced

  • /æbˈzɝd.ɪ.ti/

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meaning

  1. That which is absurd; an absurd action; a logical contradiction.

More examples

In context

  • Twitter is a good example of absurdity.

  • The absurdity of the actual idea of an infinite number

  • 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 …

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The idea of a fish climbing a tree is an utter blank that makes no sense.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

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.