ludicrous

adjective

lu·​di·​crous ˈlü-də-krəs 

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

Synonyms

• antic
• chucklesome
• comedic
• comic
• comical
• droll
• farcical
• funny
• hilarious
• humoristic
• humorous
• hysterical
• hysteric
• killing
• laughable
• ridiculous
• riotous
• risible
• screaming
• sidesplitting
• uproarious

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

So it also is grounded in a kind of reality, even though piercing the sternum with the vampire's teeth is ludicrous. —Angela Watercutter, WIRED, 25 Dec. 2024

The latest The Walking Dead spinoff to land on AMC had an okay first season, but its ludicrous premise was just too much. —Erik Kain, Forbes, 25 Dec. 2024

The notion that players would deliberately play at something less than their best and that coaches would draw up plays and schemes designed to fail is ludicrous. —Jerry McDonald, The Mercury News, 20 Dec. 2024

The bold-faced twists are entertainingly ludicrous, the dialogue crackles and there’s enough unspoken anxiety and resignation in Kudrow and Romano’s performance to keep everything grounded. —Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 12 Dec. 2024

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

Kids Definition

ludicrous

adjective

lu·​di·​crous ˈlüd-ə-krəs 

: laughable because of being ridiculous

ludicrously adverb

ludicrousness noun