different between strange vs absurd

English

Etymology

From Middle English straunge, strange, stronge, from Old French estrange, from Latin extraneus (“that which is on the outside”). Doublet of extraneous. Cognate with French étrange (“strange, foreign”) and Spanish extranjero (“foreign”). Displaced native Old English seldc?þ.

Pronunciation

• enPR: str?nj, IPA^(key): /?st?e?nd??/
• Rhymes: -e?nd?

Adjective

strange (comparative stranger, superlative strangest)

1. Not normal; odd, unusual, surprising, out of the ordinary.

   He thought it strange that his girlfriend wore shorts in the winter.

   • c. 1598, William Shakespeare, Much Ado about Nothing, Act IV, Scene 1,^[1]

     I do love nothing in the world so well as you: is not that strange?

   • 1674, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 9, lines 598-601,^[2]

     Sated at length, ere long I might perceave

     Strange alteration in me, to degree

     Of Reason in my inward Powers, and Speech

     Wanted not long, though to this shape retain’d.

2. Unfamiliar, not yet part of one's experience.

   I moved to a strange town when I was ten.

   • c. 1604, William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure, Act IV, Scene 2,^[3]

     […] here is the hand and seal of the duke: you know the character, I doubt not; and the signet is not strange to you.

   • 1955, Rex Stout, "The Next Witness", in Three Witnesses, October 1994 Bantam edition, ?ISBN, pages 48–49:

     She's probably sitting there hoping a couple of strange detectives will drop in.

3. (particle physics) Having the quantum mechanical property of strangeness.

   Hypernym: flavor

   • 2004 Frank Close, Particle Physics: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford, page 93:

     A strange quark is electrically charged, carrying an amount -1/3, as does the down quark.

4. (mathematics) Of an attractor: having a fractal structure.
5. (obsolete) Belonging to another country; foreign.
   • 1570, Roger Ascham, The Scholemaster, London, Book 1,^[4]

     I take goyng thither [to Italy], and liuing there, for a yonge ientleman, that doth not goe vnder the kepe and garde of such a man, as both, by wisedome can, and authoritie dare rewle him, to be meruelous dangerous […] not bicause I do contemne, either the knowledge of strange and diuerse tonges, and namelie the Italian tonge […] or else bicause I do despise, the learning that is gotten […]

   • c. 1594, William Shakespeare, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Act IV, Scene 2,^[5]

     […] one of the strange queen’s lords.

   • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Psalm 137:4,^[6]

     How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?

   • 1662, Samuel Pepys, Diary entry dated 27 November, 1662, in Henry B. Wheatley (editor), The Diary of Samuel Pepys, New York: Croscup & Sterling, 1893, Volume 2, Part 2, p. 377,^[7]

     I could not see the [Russian] Embassador in his coach; but his attendants in their habits and fur caps very handsome, comely men […] But Lord! to see the absurd nature of Englishmen, that cannot forbear laughing and jeering at every thing that looks strange.

6. (obsolete) Reserved; distant in deportment.
   • c. 1596, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act I, Scene 1,^[8]

     Good signiors both, when shall we laugh? say, when?

     You grow exceeding strange: must it be so?

   • 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, Boston: Ticknor, Reed & Fields, Chapter 19, p. 253,^[9]

     She may be strange and shy at first, but will soon learn to love thee!

7. (obsolete) Backward; slow.
   • 1621, Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher, Thierry and Theodoret, London: Thomas Walkley, Act III, Scene 1,^[10]

     […] to his name your barrennesse adds rule;

     Who louing the effect, would not be strange

     In fauoring the cause; looke on the profit,

     And gaine will quickly point the mischiefe out.

8. (obsolete) Not familiar; unaccustomed; inexperienced.
   • c. 1607, William Shakespeare, Timon of Athens, Act IV, Scene 3,^[11]

     I know thee well;

     But in thy fortunes am unlearn’d and strange.

9. (law) Not belonging to one.

Synonyms

• (not normal): See Thesaurus:strange
• (not part of one's experience): new, unfamiliar, unknown

Antonyms

• (not normal): everyday, normal, regular (especially US), standard, usual, unsurprising
• (not part of one's experience): familiar, known

Derived terms

Related terms

• estrange, estranged
• stranger

Translations

Verb

strange (third-person singular simple present stranges, present participle stranging, simple past and past participle stranged)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To alienate; to estrange.
2. (obsolete, intransitive) To be estranged or alienated.
3. (obsolete, intransitive) To wonder; to be astonished (at something).
   • 1661, Joseph Glanvill, The Vanity of Dogmatizing, London: Henry Eversden, Chapter 19, p. 184,^[12]

     [these] were all the Assertions of Aristotle, which Theology pronounceth impieties. Which yet we need not strange at from one, of whom a Father saith, Nec Deum coluit nec curavit [he neither worshipped nor cared for God]:

Derived terms

• bestrange

Noun

strange (uncountable)

1. (slang, uncountable) vagina
   • 2013 "Taming Strange" (episode of South Park TV series)

     Ike: Yeah, for my cool cool trick I'm gonna tame Foofa's strange.

     Plex: Tame mo-what?

     Ike: I can tame Foofa's strange, bro.

Anagrams

• Sargent, Stagner, Stanger, argents, garnets, gerants, rangest

Esperanto

Etymology

stranga (“strange”) +? -e

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?stran?e/
• Hyphenation: stran?ge
• Rhymes: -an?e

Adverb

strange

1. strangely

Middle English

Adjective

strange

1. Alternative form of straunge

Old English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?str?n?e/, [?str???e]

Adjective

strange

1. Inflected form of strang

West Flemish

Noun

strange n

1. beach

English

Etymology

First attested in 1557. From Middle French absurde, from Latin absurdus (“incongruous, dissonant, out of tune”), from ab (“away from, out”) + surdus (“silent, deaf, dull-sounding”). Compare surd.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?b?z??d/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?b?s??d/
• (US) IPA^(key): /æb?s?d/, /æb?z?d/, /?b?s?d/, /?b?z?d/
• (Canada) IPA^(key): /æb?z?d/
• Rhymes: -??(r)d

Adjective

absurd (comparative absurder or more absurd, superlative absurdest or most absurd)

1. 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. [First attested in the mid 16^th century.]
   • 1591, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part I, V-iv

     This proffer is absurd and reasonless.

   • ca. 1710, Alexander Pope

     This phrase absurd to call a villain great
2. (obsolete) Inharmonious; dissonant. [Attested only in the early 17^th century.]
3. Having no rational or orderly relationship to people's lives; meaningless; lacking order or value.
4. Dealing with absurdism.

Usage notes

• In the comparative and superlative degrees, the forms more absurd and most absurd are usually preferred over absurder, 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 Thesaurus:absurd

Derived terms

• absurdly, absurdity
• Absurdistan

Translations

Noun

absurd (plural absurds)

1. (obsolete) An absurdity. [Attested from the early 17^th century until the mid 17^th century.]
2. (philosophy, often preceded by the) 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. [First attested in English in the early 20^th century and first used in the mid-19^th century in Danish by Kierkegaard.]

Derived terms

• Theatre of the Absurd

Translations

References

Further reading

• absurd in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• absurd in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• Brauds, Burdas

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin absurdus.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic) IPA^(key): /?p?su?t/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /?p?surt/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /ap?su?t/

Adjective

absurd (feminine absurda, masculine plural absurds, feminine plural absurdes)

1. absurd

Derived terms

• absurdament

Related terms

• absurditat
• sord

Noun

absurd m (plural absurds)

1. absurdity

Further reading

• “absurd” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “absurd” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
• “absurd” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “absurd” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Danish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin absurdus (“discordant, unreasonable”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /absurd/, [?b?su???d?]

Adjective

absurd (neuter absurd, plural and definite singular attributive absurde)

1. absurd

Adverb

absurd

1. absurdly

Derived terms

• absurditet

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French absurde, from Latin absurdus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?p?s?rt/
• Hyphenation: ab?surd
• Rhymes: -?rt

Adjective

absurd (comparative absurder, superlative absurdst)

1. absurd

Inflection

Related terms

• absurdisme
• absurditeit

German

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin absurdus.

Pronunciation

Adjective

absurd (comparative absurder, superlative am absurdesten)

1. absurd

Declension

Related terms

• Absurdismus
• Absurdität

Further reading

• “absurd” in Duden online

Luxembourgish

Etymology

From German absurd, from Latin absurdus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?p?zu?t/, [?p?zu?t]

Adjective

absurd (masculine absurden, neuter absurd, comparative méi absurd, superlative am absurdsten)

1. absurd

Declension

Related terms

• Absurditéit

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Latin absurdus (“incongruous, dissonant, out of tune”), from ab (“away from, out”) + surdus (“silent, deaf, dull-sounding”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ab?s??/, /ab?s??d/, /ap?s??/, /ap?s??d/
• Rhymes: -??, -??d
• Hyphenation: ab?surd

Adjective

absurd (neuter singular absurd, definite singular and plural absurde, comparative mer absurd, superlative mest absurd)

1. absurd (contrary to reason or propriety; obviously and flatly opposed to manifest truth)

   Synonyms: fornuftsstridig, meningsløs, irrasjonell

2. (theater, literary sciences) absurdist (of or relating to absurdism)

   Synonym: absurdistisk

Derived terms

References

• “absurd” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “absurd” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).
• “absurd” in Store norske leksikon

Anagrams

• bardus

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin absurdus.

Adjective

absurd (neuter singular absurd, definite singular and plural absurde)

1. absurd

Related terms

• absurditet

References

• “absurd” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Polish

Etymology

From Latin absurdus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?ap.surt/

Noun

absurd m inan (diminutive absurdzik)

1. nonsense

   Synonym: nonsens

   Jego propozycje to jeden wielki absurd.

   His suggestions are one big load of nonsense.

2. (logic) absurdity

Declension

Derived terms

• (verb) absurdalizowa?
• (nouns) absurdalno??, absurdalista, absurdalizacja
• (adjective) absurdalny
• (adverb) absurdalnie

Further reading

• absurd in Wielki s?ownik j?zyka polskiego, Instytut J?zyka Polskiego PAN
• absurd in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French absurde, Latin absurdus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ab?surd/

Adjective

absurd m or n (feminine singular absurd?, masculine plural absurzi, feminine and neuter plural absurde)

1. absurd

Declension

Related terms

• absurditate

Swedish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin absurdus.

Adjective

absurd

1. absurd

Declension

Related terms

• absurdism
• absurditet

Tatar

Adjective

absurd

1. Latin spelling of ?????? (absurd)