Incongruous Meaning
/ɪnˈkɒn.ɡɹʊu.ʌs/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjNot similar or congruent; not matching or fitting in.
adjOf two numbers, with respect to a third, such that their difference can not be divided by it without a remainder.
Sentence Examples
When people use the word "ironic", they may mean "comically incongruous".
He has an incongruous sounding name which is hard to remember.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
The modern glass building looked ____ among the old brick houses of the neighborhood.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The modern plastic chair looked very ____ in the middle of the antique-filled Victorian room.
Word Origin & History
From Latin incongruus, from in- (“not”) + congruus (“congruent”), equivalent to in- + congruous.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"[P]erhaps he thought me, with my basket of summer fruit, and my lack of the dignity age confers, an incongruous figure in such a scene."
— 1853 January, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter 34, in Villette. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], →OCLC:
"Ona was blue-eyed and fair, while Jurgis had great black eyes with beetling brows, and thick black hair that curled in waves about his ears—in short, they were one of those incongruous and impossible married couples with which Mother Nature so often wills to confound all prophets."
— 1905 April–October, Upton Sinclair, chapter I, in The Jungle, New York, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 26 February 1906, →OCLC:
"Ardent suns had likewise tanned his face till it was swarthy as a Spaniard's. The yellow mustache appeared incongruous in the midst of such swarthiness."
— 1912, Jack London, chapter 1, in A Son Of The Sun:
"A slightly incongruous note is struck by the National Westminster Bank beside the Vine [pub], a tiny dolls' house of a building, about the size of a garden shed, in herringbone-patterned brick."
— 1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 202, about Goudhurst, Kent:
"For a few moments England toyed with the idea of making it a more difficult night than necessary. Scotland had scored a goal that seemed incongruous to the rest of their performance and, briefly, a fiercely partisan crowd sensed an improbable comeback."
— 2014 November 18, Daniel Taylor, “England and Wayne Rooney see off Scotland in their own back yard”, in The Guardian:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The modern glass building looked ____ among the old brick houses of the neighborhood.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The modern plastic chair looked very ____ in the middle of the antique-filled Victorian room.