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RIDICULOUS
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Inspiring scornful pity
Example:
how silly an ardent and unsuccessful wooer can be especially if he is getting on in years
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Similar:
undignified (lacking dignity)
Derivation:
ridicule (the act of deriding or treating with contempt)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Broadly or extravagantly humorous; resembling farce
Example:
ludicrous green hair
Synonyms:
farcical; ludicrous; ridiculous
Classified under:
Similar:
humorous; humourous (full of or characterized by humor)
Derivation:
ridicule (language or behavior intended to mock or humiliate)
ridiculousness (a message whose content is at variance with reason)
Sense 3
Meaning:
So unreasonable as to invite derision
Example:
her conceited assumption of universal interest in her rather dull children was ridiculous
Synonyms:
absurd; cockeyed; derisory; idiotic; laughable; ludicrous; nonsensical; preposterous; ridiculous
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
foolish (devoid of good sense or judgment)
Derivation:
ridiculousness (a message whose content is at variance with reason)
Context examples:
This tilted plate fascinated her. Why did it not fall down? It was ridiculous.
(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)
Her appreciation of the ridiculous was keen, and in all things she unerringly saw and felt, where it existed, the touch of sham, the overshading, the overtone.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
I should have lived happy enough in that country, if my littleness had not exposed me to several ridiculous and troublesome accidents; some of which I shall venture to relate.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
Your hand stole towards your own old wound and a smile quivered on your lips, which showed me that the ridiculous side of this method of settling international questions had forced itself upon your mind.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
As Buck grew stronger they enticed him into all sorts of ridiculous games, in which Thornton himself could not forbear to join; and in this fashion Buck romped through his convalescence and into a new existence.
(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)
You should hear mama on the chapter of governesses: Mary and I have had, I should think, a dozen at least in our day; half of them detestable and the rest ridiculous, and all incubi—were they not, mama?
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
It would be too ridiculous for me to attempt anything where I am now, with my little half acre.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
To this hour I am undecided whether it was upon the whole the wisest thing I could have done, or the most ridiculous.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
It's ridiculous, it won't be allowed.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
It will be so ridiculous to see all his letters directed to him with an M.P. But do you know, he says, he will never frank for me?
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
