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Peculiar vs Absurd - What's the difference?

peculiar | absurd | Related terms |

As adjectives the difference between peculiar and absurd

is that peculiar is out of the ordinary; odd; curious; unusual while absurd is 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.

As nouns the difference between peculiar and absurd

is that peculiar is that which is peculiar; a sole or exclusive property; a prerogative; a characteristic while absurd is an absurdity.

peculiar

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Out of the ordinary; odd; curious; unusual.
  • The sky had a peculiar appearance before the storm.
    It would be rather peculiar to see a kangaroo hopping down a city street.
  • * 1800 , , Volume 41, page 379,
  • I saw nothing peculiar in his conduct, and thought that his arrangement of the ballot box was perfect.
  • * 2001 , Jack Schaefer, Wendell Minor, Shane ,
  • "Wasn't it peculiar ," I heard mother say, "How he wouldn't talk about himself?"
    "Peculiar ?" said father. "Well, yes, in a way."
    "Everything about him is peculiar ." Mother sounded as if she was stirred up and interested. "I never saw a man quite like him before."
  • * 2008', Stephen Arnott, '''''Peculiar Proverbs: Weird Words of Wisdom from Around the World .
  • Common or usual for a certain place or circumstance; specific or particular.
  • Kangaroos are peculiar to Australia.
  • * 1855 , ,
  • This philosopher found his ideas especially in all that is practical,[29] that is, which rests upon freedom, which in its turn ranks under cognitions that are the peculiar product of reason.
  • *
  • * 1895 , , XX: Anomalous Islands: Celebes,
  • But of late years extensive Tertiary deposits of Miocene age have been discovered, showing that it is not a mere congeries of volcanoes; it [Iceland] is connected with the British Islands and with Greenland by seas less than 500 fathoms deep; and it possesses a few mammalia, one of which is peculiar', and at least three ' peculiar species of birds.
  • (dated) One's own; belonging solely or especially to an individual; not shared or possessed by others.
  • * Bible, Titus ii. 14
  • And purify unto himself a peculiar people.
  • * Hooker
  • hymns that Christianity hath peculiar unto itself
  • (dated) Particular; individual; special; appropriate.
  • * Milton
  • while each peculiar power forgoes his wonted seat
  • * Dryden
  • My fate is Juno's most peculiar care.

    Synonyms

    * (out of the ordinary) strange, uncommon, unusual * (common or usual in a particular place or circumstance) specific

    Antonyms

    * (out of the ordinary) common, usual * (common or usual in a particular place or circumstance) common, general, universal

    Derived terms

    * peculiarity * peculiarly * peculiarness

    See also

    * (wikipedia "peculiar")

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • That which is peculiar; a sole or exclusive property; a prerogative; a characteristic.
  • * South
  • Revenge is the peculiar of Heaven.
  • (UK, canon law) A particular parish or church which is exempt from the jurisdiction of the ordinary.
  • References

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    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

    * * ----