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absurd

Pronunciation: /əbˈsɜːd/

The English word “absurd” has 6 meanings listed here.

adjective

  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.
  2. Inharmonious; dissonant.
  3. Having no rational or orderly relationship to people's lives; meaningless; lacking order or value.
  4. Dealing with absurdism.

noun

  1. An absurdity.
  2. 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.

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.

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