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Definition of Ridiculous
1. Adjective. Inspiring scornful pity. "How silly an ardent and unsuccessful wooer can be especially if he is getting on in years"
2. Adjective. Incongruous;inviting ridicule. "Her conceited assumption of universal interest in her rather dull children was ridiculous"
Similar to: Foolish
Derivative terms: Absurdity, Absurdness, Deride, Ridiculousness
3. Adjective. Broadly or extravagantly humorous; resembling farce. "Ludicrous green hair"
Similar to: Humorous, Humourous
Derivative terms: Farce, Ridicule, Ridiculousness
Definition of Ridiculous
1. a. Fitted to excite ridicule; absurd and laughable; unworthy of serious consideration; as, a ridiculous dress or behavior.
Definition of Ridiculous
1. Adjective. Deserving of ridicule; foolish; absurd. ¹
¹ Source: wiktionary.com
Definition of Ridiculous
1. [adj]
Medical Definition of Ridiculous
1. 1. Fitted to excite ridicule; absurd and laughable; unworthy of serious consideration; as, a ridiculous dress or behavior. "Agricola, discerning that those little targets and unwieldy glaives ill pointed would soon become ridiculous against the thrust and close, commanded three Batavian cohorts . . . To draw up and come to handy strokes." (Milton) 2. Involving or expressing ridicule. "[It] provokes me to ridiculous smiling." (Shak) Synonym: Ludicrous, laughable, risible, droll, comical, absurd, preposterous. See Ludicrous. - Ridic"ulously, Ridic"ulousness. Origin: L. Ridiculosus, ridiculus, fr. Ridere to laigh. Cf. Risible. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)
Lexicographical Neighbors of Ridiculous
Literary usage of Ridiculous
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. The Works of the English Poets, from Chaucer to Cowper: Including the Series by Alexander Chalmers, Samuel Johnson (1810)
"This is the highest degree of the ridiculous; as in the affectation of diseases
or vices. Ver. 207. Thus far triumphant, &c.] Ridicule from false shame or ..."
2. The Republic of Plato: Tr by Plato (1909)
"... the many say is really good and fair, have you ever yet heard one of these
mercenary adventurers attempt to prove, without making himself ridiculous ? ..."
3. The Library of Literary Criticism of English and American Authors by Charles Wells Moulton (1904)
"CLEVELAND, CHARLES D., 1853, himself ridiculous by failing to see the English
Literature o/ the Nineteenth Cen- limits of his power. ..."