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Absurd vs Odd - What's the difference?

absurd | odd |

In obsolete terms the difference between absurd and odd

is that absurd is an absurdity while odd is singular in excellence; unique; sole; matchless; peerless; famous.

As a noun absurd

is an absurdity.

absurd

English

Adjective

(en-adj)
  • Contrary to reason or propriety; obviously and flatly opposed to manifest truth; inconsistent with the plain dictates of common sense; logically contradictory; nonsensical; ridiculous; silly.
  • * 1591 , (William Shakespeare), , V-iv
  • This proffer is absurd and reasonless.
  • * ca. 1710 , (Alexander Pope)
  • This phrase absurd to call a villain great
  • * , chapter=17
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=“Perhaps it is because I have been excommunicated. It's absurd , but I feel like the Jackdaw of Rheims.” ¶ She winced and bowed her head. Each time that he spoke flippantly of the Church he caused her pain.}}
  • (obsolete) Inharmonious; dissonant.
  • Having no rational or orderly relationship to people's lives; meaningless; lacking order or value.
  • * (rfdate) Adults have condemned them to live in what must seem like an absurd universe. - Joseph Featherstone
  • Dealing with absurdism.
  • Usage notes

    * More and most absurd are the preferred or more common form of the comparable, as opposed to absurder and absurdest. * Among the synonyms: ** Irrational is the weakest, denoting that which is plainly inconsistent with the dictates of sound reason; as, an irrational course of life. ** Foolish rises higher, and implies either a perversion of that faculty, or an absolute weakness or fatuity of mind; as, foolish enterprises. ** Absurd rises still higher, denoting that which is plainly opposed to received notions of propriety and truth; as, an absurd man, project, opinion, story, argument, etc. ** Preposterous rises still higher, and supposes an absolute inversion'' in the order of things; or, in plain terms, a "putting of the cart before the horse;" as, a ''preposterous'' suggestion, ''preposterous'' conduct, a ''preposterous regulation or law.

    Synonyms

    * foolish, irrational, ridiculous, preposterous, inconsistent, incongruous, ludicrous * See also

    Derived terms

    * absurdly, absurdity * Absurdistan

    Noun

    (en noun) (Absurdism)
  • (obsolete) An absurdity.
  • (philosophy) The opposition between the human search for meaning in life and the inability to find any; the state or condition in which man exists in an irrational universe and his life has no meaning outside of his existence.
  • Usage notes

    * (philosophy) Absurd is sometimes preceded by the word the .

    Derived terms

    * theatre of the absurd

    References

    * * ----

    odd

    English

    Adjective

    (en-adj)
  • (not comparable) Single; sole; singular; not having a mate.
  • (obsolete) Singular in excellence; unique; sole; matchless; peerless; famous.
  • Singular in looks or character; peculiar; eccentric.
  • Strange, unusual.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5 , passage=We made an odd party before the arrival of the Ten, particularly when the Celebrity dropped in for lunch or dinner. He could not be induced to remain permanently at Mohair because Miss Trevor was at Asquith, but he appropriated a Hempstead cart from the Mohair stables and made the trip sometimes twice in a day.}}
  • (not comparable) Occasional; infrequent.
  • * (Sir Walter Scott), Guy Mannering – or The Astrologer
  • I assure you, if I were Hazlewood I should look on his compliments, his bowings, his cloakings, his shawlings, and his handings with some little suspicion; and truly I think Hazlewood does so too at some odd times.
  • (not comparable) Left over, remaining when the rest have been grouped.
  • (not comparable) Casual, irregular, not planned.
  • (not comparable, in combination with a number, not comparable) About, approximately.
  • (not comparable) Not divisible by two; not even.
  • Synonyms

    * (not having a mate) single, mismatched * (strange) bizarre, peculiar, queer, rum, strange, unusual, weird, fremd * (about) about, approximately, around * See also

    Antonyms

    * (not divisible by two) even

    Derived terms

    * oddball * odd duck * odd one out * odds

    Anagrams

    * *