preposterous

English

Alternative forms

• præposterous (archaic)

Etymology

From Latin praeposterus (“with the hinder part before, reversed, inverted, perverted”), from prae (“before”) + posterus (“coming after”).

Adjective

preposterous (comparative more preposterous, superlative most preposterous)

1. Absurd, or contrary to common sense.

Synonyms

• absurd
• foolish
• irrational
• nonsensical
• See also Wikisaurus:absurd

Translations

absurd, or contrary to common sense

Dutch: absurd (nl), grotesk (nl) Finnish: absurdi (fi), järjetön (fi), mieletön (fi), naurettava (fi), posketon (fi) French: insensé (fr), absurde (fr), ridicule (fr) m. and f. German: absurd (de), grotesk (de) Hungarian: esztelen (hu), abszurd (hu), oktalan (hu)

Icelandic: fáránlegur m., fáránleg f., fáránlegt n. Portuguese: absurdo (pt) Russian: нелепый (ru) (nelépyj), абсурдный (ru) (absúrdnyj) Spanish: absurdo (es) Vietnamese: vô lý (vi)

See also

• topsy-turvy
• upside down

External links

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