US /æbˈsɚd/ UK /əbˈsɜːd/
adj noun Freq #4342

Meanings

  1. 1
    adj

    completely unreasonable or silly; ridiculous

    It is absurd to expect us to finish all this work in one hour.

  2. 2
    noun

    the idea that human life has no real meaning or order

    Camus wrote about the absurd at the heart of human existence.

Thesaurus

Word family
Derived forms absurdificationabsurdifyabsurdistanabsurdityabsurdlyabsurdnessnonabsurdunabsurd
Related forms fakeinsanenonsense

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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