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Webster 1913 Edition


Absurdity

Ab-surd′i-ty

(-ĭ-ty̆)
,
Noun.
;
pl.
Absurdities
(-tĭz)
.
[L.
absurditas
: cf. F.
absurdite
.]
1.
The quality of being absurd or inconsistent with obvious truth, reason, or sound judgment.
“The absurdity of the actual idea of an infinite number.”
Locke.
2.
That which is absurd; an absurd action; a logical contradiction.
His travels were full of
absurdities
.
Johnson.

Webster 1828 Edition


Absurdity

ABSURD'ITY

,
Noun.
1.
The quality of being inconsistent with obvious truth, reason, or sound judgment. Want of judgment, applied to men; want of propriety, applied to things.
2.
That which is absurd; in this sense it has a plural; the absurdities of men.

Definition 2024


absurdity

absurdity

English

Noun

absurdity (countable and uncountable, plural absurdities)

  1. (obsolete, rare) Dissonance. [Attested from around 1350 to 1470 until the late 17th century.][3]
  2. (countable) That which is absurd; an absurd action; a logical contradiction. [First attested in the late 15th century.][3]
    • (Can we date this quote?), Johnson, (Please provide the title of the work):
      His travels were full of absurdities.
  3. (uncountable) The quality of being absurd or inconsistent with obvious truth, reason, or sound judgment. [First attested in the early 16th century.][3]
    • (Can we date this quote?), John Locke, (Please provide the title of the work):
      The absurdity of the actual idea of an infinite number.
    • 1992, Rudolf M. Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, page viii
      Neither [Jones] [] nor I (in 1966) could conceive of reducing our "science" to the ultimate absurdity of reading Finnish newspapers almost a century and a half old in order to establish "priority."

Translations

References

  1. Laurence Urdang (editor), The Random House College Dictionary (Random House, 1984 [1975], ISBN 0-394-43600-8), page 7
  2. Philip Babcock Gove (editor), Webster's Third International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged (G. & C. Merriam Co., 1976 [1909], ISBN 0-87779-101-5), page 8
  3. 1 2 3 4 Lesley Brown (editor), The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 5th edition (Oxford University Press, 2003 [1933], ISBN 978-0-19-860575-7), page 10