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) 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.

Derived terms

• ridic
• ridiculousness

Related terms

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

Translations

foolish, absurd

• Afrikaans: belaglik
• Albanian: qesharak (sq)
• Arabic: سَخِيف (saḵīf), مَسْخَرَة (masḵara)
• Armenian: ծիծաղելի (hy) (cicaġeli), անհեթեթ (hy) (anhetʻetʻ)
• Basque: barregarri, irrigarri
• Belarusian: сме́шны (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)
• Danish: latterlig
• Dutch: belachelijk (nl), lachwekkend (nl), ridicuul (nl)
• Esperanto: ridinda
• Faroese: løgiligur
• Finnish: naurettava (fi)
• French: ridicule (fr)
• Galician: ridículo
• German: lächerlich (de)
• Greek: γελοίος (el) (geloíos), αξιογέλαστος (el) (axiogélastos)

  Ancient: γελοῖος (geloîos)

• Hebrew: מְגֻחָךְ (he) m (m'guẖách)
• Hindi: बेतुका (hi) (betukā), मसख़रा (masaxrā), हास्यास्पद (hi) (hāsyāspad), उपहासास्पद (hi) (uphāsāspad), अंडबंड (hi) (aṇḍbaṇḍ), अटपटा (hi) (aṭapṭā), ऊटपटाँग (hi) (ūṭapṭāṅg)
• 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), niedorzeczny (pl), śmieszny (pl)
• Portuguese: ridículo (pt)
• Punjabi: ਹਾਸੋਹੀਣ (hāsohīṇ)
• Romanian: ridicol (ro)
• 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”, 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