ludicrous

adjective

lu·​di·​crous ˈlü-də-krəs How to pronounce ludicrous (audio)
1
: amusing or laughable through obvious absurdity, incongruity, exaggeration, or eccentricity
2
: meriting derisive laughter or scorn as absurdly inept, false, or foolish
ludicrously adverb
ludicrousness noun
Choose the Right Synonym for ludicrous

laughable, ludicrous, ridiculous, comic, comical mean provoking laughter or mirth.

laughable applies to anything occasioning laughter.

laughable attempts at skating

ludicrous suggests absurdity that excites both laughter and scorn.

a thriller with a ludicrous plot

ridiculous suggests extreme absurdity, foolishness, or contemptibility.

a ridiculous display of anger

comic applies especially to what arouses thoughtful amusement.

a comic character

comical applies to what arouses spontaneous hilarity.

a comical hat

Examples of ludicrous in a Sentence

Some of this censorship is trivial, some is ludicrous, and some is breathtaking in its power to dumb down what children learn in school. Diane Ravitch, The Language Police, 2003
The serious and the absurd have to be learnt together; but ludicrous theatrical buffoonery is fit only for foreigners. Iris Murdoch, The Fire & the Sun, 1977
The girl didn't comment on the steepness, or the brambles, or the fact that it seemed ludicrous to cart furniture through an apparently endless forest. Anne Tyler, The Clock Winder, 1972
Her teachers complained that instead of doing her sums she covered her slate with animals, the blank pages of her atlas were used to copy maps on, and caricatures of the most ludicrous description came fluttering out of all her books at unlucky moments. Louisa May Alcott, Little Women, 1868-69
the ludicrous sight of their teacher in a Halloween costume a ludicrous and easily detected attempt to forge his father's signature on a note to school
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
The Justice Department lawyer, Jean Lin, persisted with this ludicrous distinction. Ruth Marcus, New Yorker, 4 Apr. 2025 Entranced by the Power—and by the black corruption pulsing through it—Rand straight-up destroys Sammael without apparent thought or effort, borrowing a bit of the method from the way Rand pulls off a similar feat in book 3, with a ludicrous amount of lightning and ceiling-collapsing. ArsTechnica, 4 Apr. 2025 The Simpsons will extend its already ludicrous run through its 40th season and, depending on the episode count for the coming seasons, will likely approach 900 episodes by the end of the order. Rick Porter, HollywoodReporter, 2 Apr. 2025 Case in point: his goal for Portugal Under-17s against Morocco in September 2023, a ludicrous solo effort that left a trail of dazed defenders scratching their heads and wondering what the hell had just happened. Jack Lang, New York Times, 28 Mar. 2025 See All Example Sentences for ludicrous

Word History

Etymology

Latin ludicrus, from ludus play, sport; perhaps akin to Greek loidoros abusive

First Known Use

1712, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of ludicrous was in 1712

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Ludicrous.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ludicrous. Accessed 9 Apr. 2025.

Kids Definition

ludicrous

adjective
lu·​di·​crous ˈlüd-ə-krəs How to pronounce ludicrous (audio)
: laughable because of being ridiculous
ludicrously adverb
ludicrousness noun

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