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Surd and Absurd
Both surd and its more common cousin absurd come from the Latin word surdus, meaning "unhearing, deaf, muffled, or dull." Absurd traveled through Middle French before arriving in English in the early 16th century. A few decades after its arrival, surd was adopted directly from Latin as a noun used in mathematical contexts to refer to an irrational root, such as √3. By the early 17th century surd had gained a more general application as an adjective describing something that is irrational or otherwise lacks sense, a meaning still in use:
While the grandparents might scratch their heads at the Star Wars references, the actors and perhaps some younger parents likely delighted in manic, jumbled and surd structure of the play.
—Patrick Clement, The Kiowa County Signal (Greensburg, Kansas), 23 Jan. 2013
The adjective surd also describes speech sounds that are not voiced—for example, the \p\ sound, as opposed to the voiced \b\.
Absurd is of course seen far more frequently. It stresses a lack of logical sense or harmonious agreement, of parts (such as a premise and a conclusion) not fitting together. In philosophy, it describes the problem of trying to distill meaning from one's experiences. In A Discourse on Novelty and Creation (1975), Carl R. Hausman writes, "There is an incongruity, an inconsistency, a conflict with a context that appears as lawful, orderly experience. As [Albert] Camus points out, absurdity 'springs from a comparison,' a comparison between two aspects of reality which seem to be out of harmony."
Synonyms
Examples of absurd in a Sentence
Editor & Publisher, 14 July 2003
By the time Showalter was fired one day after the end of last season, the stories of how he carried his attention to detail to absurd lengths—including his insistence that the A on the players' socks be completely visible—had been well circulated.
—Phil Taylor, Sports Illustrated, 30 July 2001
This criticism, patently absurd to anyone who has read even a handful of Updike's more than 40 books, nevertheless has been made so often that it is worth Pritchard's long rebuttal.
—Jonathan Wilson, New York Times Book Review, 24 Sept. 2000
Yet from time to time, virtually every parent falls back on threats, often absurd ones that leave Mom and Dad feeling foolish and the problem unresolved.
—Dorothy Foltz-Gray, Parenting, December/January 1996
The charges against him are obviously absurd.
absurd claims of having been abducted by UFO's
Mark R. Weaver, Newsweek, 3 Dec. 2024
The retort there is that if the marketplace sees the position as absurd or grossly premature, the potential reputational harm to the firm might not be worth the endeavor.
—Lance Eliot, Forbes, 2 Dec. 2024
But the main goal is clear: to end America’s absurd, bureaucratic, hard-to-manage, time-wasting system of taxing its citizens who live abroad.
—Tyler Cowen, Sun Sentinel, 28 Nov. 2024
The idea that parents alone should manage their children’s access to alcohol would have struck most people as absurd.
—Jonathan David Haidt, WIRED, 26 Nov. 2024
See all Example Sentences for absurd 
Dictionary Entries Near absurd
Cite this Entry
“Absurd.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/absurd. Accessed 17 Dec. 2024.
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