absurd

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See also: absúrd and absürd

English

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Etymology

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First attested in 1557. From Middle French absurde, from Latin absurdus (incongruous, dissonant, out of tune),[1] from ab (away from, out) + surdus (silent, deaf, dull-sounding).[2] Compare surd.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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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. [from mid-16th c.][3]
  2. (obsolete) Inharmonious; dissonant. [only early 17th c.][3]
  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

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  • 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

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The terms below need to be checked and allocated to the definitions (senses) of the headword above. Each term should appear in the sense for which it is appropriate. For synonyms and antonyms you may use the templates {{syn|en|...}} or {{ant|en|...}}.

Derived terms

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Collocations

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Translations

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Noun

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absurd (plural absurds)

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia
  1. (obsolete) An absurdity. [early 17th–mid 17th c.][3]
  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. [from early 20th century in English; from mid-19th century in Danish by Kierkegaard][3][4]

Derived terms

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Translations

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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

References

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  1. ^ Laurence Urdang (editor), The Random House College Dictionary (Random House, 1984 [1975], →ISBN), page 7
  2. ^ Philip Babcock Gove (editor), Webster's Third International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged (G. & C. Merriam Co., 1976 [1909], →ISBN), page 8
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Lesley Brown, editor-in-chief, William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, editors (2002), “absurd”, in The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 5th edition, Oxford, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 10.
  4. ^ "Søren Kierkegaard" in The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Further reading

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Anagrams

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Catalan

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Latin absurdus.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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

  1. absurd

Derived terms

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Noun

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absurd m (plural absurds)

  1. absurdity

Further reading

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Danish

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Latin absurdus (discordant, unreasonable).

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /absurd/, [ɑbˈsuɐ̯ˀd̥]

Adjective

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

  1. absurd

Adverb

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absurd

  1. absurdly

Derived terms

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Dutch

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Middle French absurde, from Latin absurdus.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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absurd (comparative absurder, superlative absurdst)

  1. absurd

Declension

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Declension of absurd
uninflected absurd
inflected absurde
comparative absurder
positive comparative superlative
predicative/adverbial absurd absurder het absurdst
het absurdste
indefinite m./f. sing. absurde absurdere absurdste
n. sing. absurd absurder absurdste
plural absurde absurdere absurdste
definite absurde absurdere absurdste
partitive absurds absurders
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Descendants

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  • Indonesian: absurd

German

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Latin absurdus.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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

  1. absurd

Declension

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Descendants

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Further reading

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

Indonesian

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Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): [ˈapsʊ(r)t]
  • Hyphenation: ab‧surd

Adjective

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absurd (superlative terabsurd)

  1. absurd
    Synonym: mustahil

Derived terms

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Further reading

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Kashubian

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Polish absurd.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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absurd m inan

  1. absurdity, nonsense
    Synonym: bezsens

Derived terms

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adjective

Further reading

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  • Jan Trepczyk (1994) “absurd”, in Słownik polsko-kaszubski (in Kashubian), volumes 1–2
  • Eùgeniusz Gòłąbk (2011) “absurd”, in Słownik Polsko-Kaszubski / Słowôrz Pòlskò-Kaszëbsczi[1]
  • absurd”, in Internetowi Słowôrz Kaszëbsczégò Jãzëka [Internet Dictionary of the Kashubian Language], Fundacja Kaszuby, 2022

Luxembourgish

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Etymology

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From German absurd, from Latin absurdus.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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

  1. absurd

Declension

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Norwegian Bokmål

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Etymology

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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

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Adjective

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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
      [Emperor Francis Joseph] 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

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References

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Anagrams

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Norwegian Nynorsk

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Latin absurdus.

Adjective

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

  1. absurd
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References

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Polish

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Polish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia pl

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Learned borrowing from Latin absurdus.[1][2][3] First attested in 1564.[4]

Pronunciation

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Noun

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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

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Derived terms

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adjective
noun
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adjective
adverb
nouns
verb

Collocations

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References

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  1. ^ Mirosław Bańko, Lidia Wiśniakowska (2021) “absurd”, in Wielki słownik wyrazów obcych, →ISBN
  2. ^ Bańkowski, Andrzej (2000) “absurd”, in Etymologiczny słownik języka polskiego [Etymological Dictionary of the Polish Language] (in Polish)
  3. ^ Witold Doroszewski, editor (1958–1969), “absurd”, in Słownik języka polskiego (in Polish), Warszawa: PWN
  4. ^ Maria Renata Mayenowa, Stanisław Rospond, Witold Taszycki, Stefan Hrabec, Władysław Kuraszkiewicz (2010-2023) “absurdum”, in Słownik Polszczyzny XVI Wieku [A Dictionary of 16th Century Polish]

Further reading

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Romanian

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Etymology

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Borrowed from French absurde, Latin absurdus.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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

  1. absurd

Declension

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Swedish

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Latin absurdus.

Adjective

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absurd (comparative absurdare, superlative absurdast)

  1. absurd

Declension

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Inflection of absurd
Indefinite Positive Comparative Superlative2
Common singular absurd absurdare absurdast
Neuter singular absurt absurdare absurdast
Plural absurda absurdare absurdast
Masculine plural3 absurde absurdare absurdast
Definite Positive Comparative Superlative
Masculine singular1 absurde absurdare absurdaste
All absurda absurdare absurdaste
1) Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine.
2) The indefinite superlative forms are only used in the predicative.
3) Dated or archaic
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Tatar

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Adjective

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absurd

  1. Latin spelling of абсурд (absurd)