Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Contrary to nature, reason, or common sense; absurd. synonym: foolish.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Having that last which ought to be first; reversed in order or arrangement; inverted.
- Contrary to nature, reason, or common sense; irrational; glaringly absurd; nonsensical.
- Foolish; ridiculous; stupid; absurd.
- Synonyms and Silly, Foolish, etc. (see
absurd ), monstrous, crazy, mad, wild, ludicrous. Seefoolish .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective obsolete Having that first which ought to be last; inverted in order.
- adjective Contrary to nature or reason; not adapted to the end; utterly and glaringly foolish; unreasonably absurd; perverted.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Absurd, or contrary to
common sense .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective incongruous;inviting ridicule
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word preposterous.
Examples
-
Mr. Pawlenty attributed the current impasse on what he called "preposterous" proposed spending increases.
Minnesota's Woes Shadow Pawlenty Patrick O'Connor 2011
-
I knew Aunt Agatha would be taking advantage of my long absence to retail what she termed my preposterous scheme to Uncle Keith, and that I should have the benefit of his opinion on my return, and this thought made me restless.
The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. VIII, No. 354, October 9, 1886 Various
-
She must not put faith in preposterous representations, nor may facts within her observation show the representations to be so obviously false that to rely on them requires closing her eyes to the truth.
Archive 2009-03-01 Rebecca Tushnet 2009
-
How preposterous is Congressional oversight of U.S. intelligence?
-
The test question is this: If the idea of abandoning the present highway system and constructing a new one from scratch is economically preposterous, would it not remain preposterous if one substituted “existing power plants” for “interstate highway system” and “windmills and solar power collectors” for “tunnels”?
Stromata Blog: 2008
-
The test question is this: If the idea of abandoning the present highway system and constructing a new one from scratch is economically preposterous, would it not remain preposterous if one substituted “existing power plants” for “interstate highway system” and “windmills and solar power collectors” for “tunnels”?
A Simple Test 2008
-
People dress up in preposterous costumes, drink large quantities of beer, and take part in -- or toast -- the parade floats that every self-respecting town puts on.
-
I do apologize for misplacing the r in preposterous, though I imagine you quite understood what I meant.
-
I am here using the word preposterous in its dictionary sense of "contrary to nature, reason or commonsense," for in the light of modern scientific knowledge, human behavior is, demonstrably, characterized by the interaction of cultural and biological variables, and, as Melvin Konner has recently put it "an analysis of the causes of human nature that tends to ignore either the genes or the environmental factors may be safely discarded."
Evolving Margaret Mead Freeman, Derek 1985
-
While the prosecution argues that Dunn and his team manipulated the books to claim the bonuses, the defense said such a fraud would have required the acquiescence of hundreds of accountants at both Nortel and Deloitte, an idea it called "preposterous."
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.