ridiculous

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) IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈdɪkjʊləs/, /ɹiːˈdɪkjʊləs/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈdɪkjələs/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• (Wales) IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈdɪkləs/
• 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.

   • 1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 161:

     Many of the so-called rites of these secret societies were so patently ridiculous, that it is quite obvious that they were merely an excuse for men and women to indulge in sex-play and lustful gratification, frequently of an abnormal kind.

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.

Further reading

• “ridiculous”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “ridiculous”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “ridiculous”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• ridiculous in Britannica Dictionary
• ridiculous in Macmillan Collocations Dictionary
• ridiculous in Ozdic collocation dictionary
• ridiculous in WordReference English Collocations