absurd

English

Etymology

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.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /əbˈsɜːd/, /əbˈzɜːd/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /æbˈsɝd/, /æbˈzɝd/, /əbˈsɝd/, /əbˈzɝd/
• (Canada) IPA^(key): /æbˈzɝd/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)d

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Adjective

absurd (comparative absurder or more absurd, superlative absurdest or most absurd)

1. 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.
   • 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 Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     This proffer is absurd and reasonless.

   • 1734, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. , epistle IV, London: Printed for J Wilford, , →OCLC:

     'Tis phrase absurd to call a villain great

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XVII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     “Perhaps it is because I have been excommunicated. It's absurd, but I feel like the Jackdaw of Rheims.” ¶ She winced and bowed her head. Each time that he spoke flippantly of the Church he caused her pain.

   • 1979, “The Logical Song”, in Roger Hodgson (lyrics), Breakfast in America, performed by Supertramp:

     I know it sounds absurd / But please, tell me who I am

2. (obsolete) Inharmonious; dissonant.
3. Having no rational or orderly relationship to people's lives; meaningless; lacking order or value.
   • 1968 March 2, Joseph Featherstone, “A New Kind of Schooling”, in The New Republic:

     Adults have condemned them to live in what must seem like an absurd universe.

4. Dealing with absurdism.

Usage notes

• In the comparative and superlative degrees, the forms more absurd and most absurd are usually preferred over absurder, absurdest.
• Webster 1913 has the sole definition "Contrary to reason or propriety; obviously and flatly opposed to manifest truth; inconsistent with the plain dictates of common sense; logically contradictory; nonsensical; ridiculous; as, an absurd person, an absurd opinion; an absurd dream."

Synonyms

• foolish, irrational, ridiculous, preposterous, inconsistent, incongruous, ludicrous
• See also Thesaurus:absurd

Derived terms

Collocations

Translations

Noun

absurd (plural absurds)

English Wikipedia has an article on:

Absurdism

Wikipedia

1. (obsolete) An absurdity.
2. (philosophy, often preceded by the) 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.

Derived terms

• Theatre of the Absurd

Translations

References

Further reading

• “absurd”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “absurd”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “absurd”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “absurd”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “absurd”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.
• “absurd”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “absurd” (US) / “absurd” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.

Anagrams

• Brauds, Burdas

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin absurdus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic)
• IPA^(key): (Valencian)
• Rhymes: -uɾt

Adjective

absurd (feminine absurda, masculine plural absurds, feminine plural absurdes)

1. absurd

Derived terms

• absurdament

Related terms

• absurditat
• sord

Noun

absurd m (plural absurds)

1. absurdity

Further reading

• “absurd” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “absurd”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “absurd” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “absurd” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Danish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin absurdus (“discordant, unreasonable”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /absurd/,

Adjective

absurd (neuter absurd, plural and definite singular attributive absurde)

1. absurd

Adverb

absurd

1. absurdly

Derived terms

• absurditet

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French absurde, from Latin absurdus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɑpˈsʏrt/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ab‧surd
• Rhymes: -ʏrt

Adjective

absurd (comparative absurder, superlative absurdst)

1. absurd

Inflection

Related terms

• absurdisme
• absurditeit

Descendants

• → Indonesian: absurd

German

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin absurdus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /apˈzʊʁt/

• Audio

  (file)

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

absurd (strong nominative masculine singular absurder, comparative absurder, superlative am absurdesten)

1. absurd

Declension

Related terms

• Absurdismus
• Absurdität

Descendants

• → Bulgarian: абсу́рд (absúrd)

Further reading

• “absurd” in Duden online
• “absurd” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Indonesian

Etymology

From Dutch absurd, from Middle French absurde, from Latin absurdus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):
• Hyphenation: ab‧surd

Noun

absurd (superlative terabsurd)

1. absurd

   Synonym: mustahil

Derived terms

Further reading

• “absurd” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation — Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic Indonesia, 2016.

Luxembourgish

Etymology

From German absurd, from Latin absurdus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɑpˈzuʀt/,

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

absurd (masculine absurden, neuter absurd, comparative méi absurd, superlative am absurdsten)

1. absurd

Declension

Related terms

• Absurditéit

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Latin absurdus (“incongruous, dissonant, out of tune”), from both ab- (“from, away from, off”), from Latin ab (“from, away from, on, in”), from Proto-Italic *ab, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂epó (“off, away”) + and from surdus (“silent, deaf, dull-sounding”), from Proto-Indo-European *swer- (“to resound; ringing, whistling”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /abˈsʉɖ/, /abˈsʉʁd/, /apˈsʉɖ/, /apˈsʉʁd/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʉɖ, -ʉʁd, -ʉrd
• Hyphenation: ab‧surd

Adjective

absurd (neuter singular absurd, definite singular and plural absurde, comparative mer absurd, superlative mest absurd)

1. absurd (contrary to reason or propriety; obviously and flatly opposed to manifest truth)

   Synonyms: fornuftsstridig, meningsløs, irrasjonell

   et absurd spørsmål

   an absurd question

   dette er jo ganske absurd

   this is quite absurd

   • 1882, Henrik Ibsen, En folkefiende, page 164:

     absurde traditioner

     absurd traditions

   • 1907, Alexander L. Kielland, Samlede værker II (Mindeutgave), page 67:

     en saa absurd forbindelse – med en stor rødhaaret bondepige

     such an absurd connection - with a big red-haired peasant girl

   • 2000, Trude Marstein, Plutselig høre noen åpne en dør, page 188:

     situasjonen er absurd, tenker jeg

     the situation is absurd, I think

   • 1997, Espen Schaanning, Vitenskap som skapt viten, page 66:

     radikalt nye innfallsvinkler og synsmåter står alltid i fare for å framtre som absurde og paradoksale

     radically new approaches and views are always in danger of appearing absurd and paradoxical

   • 1999, Elsbeth Wessel, Wien, page 288:

     [keiser Frans Josef] var en ensom mann, resignert, men fylt av en nesten absurd pliktfølelse

     was a lonely man, resigned, but filled with an almost absurd sense of duty

   • 2006, Lars Roar Langslet, Når fuglen letter, page 11:

     i billedkunsten er det åpenbart absurd å tale om noe fremskritt

     in the visual arts, it is obviously absurd to talk about any progress

2. (theater, literary sciences) absurdist (of or relating to absurdism)

   Synonym: absurdistisk

   • 1982, Torolf Elster, Thomas Pihls annen lov, page 40:

     en absurd komedie eller et absurd melodrama

     an absurd comedy or an absurd melodrama

   • 1991, Åsfrid Svensen, Orden og kaos, page 326:

     i absurd litteratur mangler gjerne motsetningen mellom normalitet og fantastikk

     in absurd literature, the contrast between normality and fantastic is often lacking

   • 1998, Kjetil Rolness, Elvis Presley, page 37:

     framførelsen nærmer seg grensen til absurd komikk

     the performance is approaching the limit of absurd comedy

   • 1976, Leif Longum, Å lese skuespill, page 122:

     ordenes sammenbrudd, som kanskje er det viktigste fellestema ved det absurde teater

     the breakdown of words, which is perhaps the most important common theme of the absurd theater

Derived terms

References

• “absurd” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “absurd” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).
• “absurd” in Store norske leksikon

Anagrams

• bardus

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin absurdus.

Adjective

absurd (neuter singular absurd, definite singular and plural absurde)

1. absurd

Related terms

• absurditet

References

• “absurd” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Polish

Polish Wikipedia has an article on:

absurd

Wikipedia ^pl

Alternative forms

• absurdum (obsolete)

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin absurdus. First attested in 1564.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈap.surt/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -apsurt
• Syllabification: ab‧surd

Noun

absurd m inan (diminutive absurdzik)

1. absurdity, nonsense

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:nonsens

   Jego propozycje to jeden wielki absurd. ― His suggestions are one big load of nonsense.

2. (logic) absurdity

Declension

Derived terms

Related terms

Collocations

References

Further reading

• absurd in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• absurd in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• Wiesław Morawski (02.09.2020) “ABSURD”, in Elektroniczny Słownik Języka Polskiego XVII i XVIII Wieku [Electronic Dictionary of the Polish Language of the XVII and XVIII Century]
• Aleksander Zdanowicz (1861) “absurdum”, in Słownik języka polskiego, Wilno 1861‎
• J. Karłowicz, A. Kryński, W. Niedźwiedzki, editors (1900), “absurd, absurdum”, in Słownik języka polskiego‎ (in Polish), volume 1, Warsaw, page 4

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French absurde, Latin absurdus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /abˈsurd/

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

absurd m or n (feminine singular absurdă, masculine plural absurzi, feminine and neuter plural absurde)

1. absurd

Declension

Related terms

• absurditate

Swedish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin absurdus.

Adjective

absurd (comparative absurdare, superlative absurdast)

1. absurd

Declension

Related terms

• absurdism
• absurditet

Tatar

Adjective

absurd

1. Latin spelling of абсурд (absurd)