# absurd

Pronunciation: US say "ab-SURD" /æbˈsɚd/; UK say "uhb-SURD" /əbˈsɜːd/

## Adjective

1. Clearly opposed to reason or common sense; ridiculous or nonsensical.
   - Simple: So clearly wrong or silly that it makes no sense.
   - _The committee rejected the proposal as absurd and completely unworkable._
   - _Critics found the plot absurd, full of events no real person would ever accept._
2. Having no rational or orderly connection to human life; meaningless and lacking order or value.
   - Simple: Having no real meaning or order, so that life feels pointless.
   - _The novel paints human existence as fundamentally absurd, a search for meaning that finds none._
   - _He found his office routines absurd, hours of effort that signified nothing._
4. Relating to or characteristic of absurdism, the artistic movement that portrays human existence as meaningless.
   - Simple: Belonging to the kind of plays or books that show life as having no meaning.
   - _Beckett's absurd plays strip away conventional plot and clear motive._
   - _The theater festival featured several absurd works first staged in the 1950s._

## Noun

3. The conflict between the human search for meaning and the inability to find any in an irrational universe, where life holds no significance beyond existence itself.
   - Simple: The clash between people wanting life to have meaning and never finding any.
   - _Camus confronts the absurd by urging us to live fully without false hope._
   - _The novel dramatizes the absurd, the gap between human longing and an indifferent world._

## Noun

5. A statement, idea, or thing that is contrary to reason; an absurdity. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A foolish or senseless statement or idea.
   - _The philosopher waved away the argument as an absurd unworthy of reply._
   - _Her pamphlet was denounced from the pulpit as an absurd against scripture._

## Adjective

6. Not in harmony; dissonant or discordant in sound. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Sounding rough because the notes do not fit well together.

## Origin

First attested in 1557, absurd came through Middle French absurde from Latin absurdus, meaning 'incongruous, dissonant, out of tune'. This was built from ab ('away from, out') plus surdus ('silent, deaf, dull-sounding').

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/absurd (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).