ridiculous

ridiculous

English

Alternative forms

• rediculous (archaic, eye dialect, or misspelling)
• radiculous (rare, obsolete)

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin rīdiculus (“laughable, ridiculous”); Equivalent to ridicule +‎ -ous.

Pronunciation

• (Canada, UK, US) IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈdɪkjʊləs/, /ɹiːˈdɪkjʊləs/
• (Wales) IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈdɪkləs/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪkjələs

Adjective

ridiculous (comparative more ridiculous, superlative most ridiculous)

1. deserving of ridicule; foolish, absurd

   Synonyms: silly, willy nilly, frivolous, goofy, funny, humorous, absurd, odd, surreal, unreasonable; see also Thesaurus:absurd

   Antonyms: straightforward, serious, somber, solemn

   That hairstyle looks ridiculous.

   It's ridiculous to charge so much for a little souvenir.

   You make ridiculous statements a lot, like saying that UFOs are real.

2. (informal) astonishing, extreme, unbelievable

   In a ridiculous feat of engineering, the team can calculate the difference in arrival time to within one-tenth of a nanosecond.

   Gaines is a classic motor player with a low center of gravity and ridiculous strength.

Derived terms

• ridic
• ridiculousness

Related terms

• deride
• derision
• ridicule
• ridiculable
• ridiculosity
• ridiculously

Translations

foolish, absurd

Afrikaans: belaglik Albanian: qesharak (sq) m Arabic: سَخِيف‎ (saḵīf), مَسْخَرَة‎ (masḵara) Armenian: ծիծաղելի (hy) (cicałeli), անհեթեթ (hy) (anhetʿetʿ) Basque: barregarri, irrigarri Belarusian: сме́шны m (smjéšny) Bulgarian: нелеп (bg) (nelep), абсурден (bg) (absurden), смехотворен (smehotvoren) Catalan: ridícul (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: (laughable) 可笑 (zh) (kěxiào), (absurd) 荒謬／荒谬 (zh) (huāngmiù), (beyond belief) 荒唐 (zh) (huāngtáng) Cornish: hwarthus Czech: směšný (cs) m Danish: latterlig Dutch: belachelijk (nl), lachwekkend (nl), ridicuul (nl) Esperanto: ridinda Faroese: løgiligur Finnish: naurettava (fi) French: ridicule (fr) German: lächerlich (de) Greek: γελοίος (el) m (geloíos), αξιογέλαστος (el) m (axiogélastos) Ancient: γελοῖος (geloîos) Hungarian: nevetséges (hu) Irish: áiféiseach Italian: ridicolo (it) Japanese: 馬鹿らしい (bakarashii) Kabuverdianu: jatu Korean: 웃으운 (useuun) Latin: rīdiculus (la) Malay: mengarut Maori: haraki, nenekara Mauritian Creole: ridikil Norman: riditchule Norwegian: Bokmål: latterlig (no) Nynorsk: latterleg, låtteleg Papiamentu: ridíkulo Persian: مسخره‎ (fa) (masxare) Plautdietsch: lachrich Polish: absurdalny (pl) m, niedorzeczny (pl) m, śmieszny (pl) m Portuguese: ridículo (pt) Romanian: ridicol (ro) m Russian: неле́пый (ru) (nelépyj) Scottish Gaelic: amaideach Slovak: absúrdny, smiešny, nehorázny, neuveriteľný Spanish: ridículo (es) Swedish: löjlig (sv) Thai: น่าขัน (nâa kăn), ไร้สาระ (th) (rái săará) Turkish: saçma (tr), komik (tr), tuhaf (tr), gülünç (tr) Ukrainian: безглу́здий (uk) (bezhlúzdyj), смішни́й (smišnýj)

Further reading

• ridiculous at OneLook Dictionary Search
• ridiculous in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• ridiculous in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911
• ridiculous in Britannica Dictionary
• ridiculous in Macmillan Collocations Dictionary
• ridiculous in Ozdic collocation dictionary
• ridiculous in WordReference English Collocations