Ludicrous

How to spell ludicrous

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce ludicrous

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does ludicrous mean?

1. adjectiveSo foolish, unreasonable, or out of proportion that it deserves to be laughed at.

Ludicrous in a sentence

• The repair quote was so ludicrous that she took the car to another garage.

• Charging that much for a coffee is simply ludicrous.

Where does ludicrous come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word traces back to the Latin ludicrus, meaning 'sportive' or 'done in play', which was built on ludus, the Latin noun for a game, a sport, or even a school where physical exercises were practised. The related verb ludere meant 'to play, to mock, or to make sport of', and that sense of mockery is the bridge to the modern meaning. When English adopted ludicrous in the early 1600s, it first carried the neutral idea of something belonging to play or amusement, but within a few decades it had shifted to describe things so absurd that they invite ridicule. The same ludus root survives in words like 'prelude' (something played before), 'interlude' (a playful break in between), and 'allude' and 'delude' (to play with or toy with the truth). The spelling trap is the unstressed middle, where the 'i' quietly hides; people who think of the rap stage name often want an 'a', but the Latin root keeps it firmly as 'ludicrous'.

How the word is built

• ludicr- (from Latin ludicrus: sportive, playful, from ludus 'play, game')
• -ous (adjective suffix: full of, characterised by)