Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Laughable or hilarious because of obvious absurdity or incongruity. See Synonyms at foolish.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Serving for or exciting sport; laughable from singularity or grotesqueness; adapted to cause sportive laughter or ridicule; absurd.
- Synonyms Funny, Comical, Droll, Ludicrous, Ridiculous, Laughable. Either the direct action of laughter or a corresponding sentiment is included in the signification of all these terms.
- In this respect laughable is the generic word, but it is also one of the strongest. Funny is the weakest of the list, ranging from the meaning of ‘amusing’ or ‘odd’ down to its colloquial use in the sense of ‘strange.’ Comical still retains a faint suggestion of its origin in connection with the drama, being primarily used in connection with something done or seen, and hence something viewed by the mind: a comical predicament is just such as would be fit for exhibition in a comedy. Droll especially implies the odd or unfamiliar: as, a droll story, idea, fellow. Ludicrous is an advance in strength upon comical, as comical is an advance upon funny. Ridiculous is the only word in the list that throws contempt or even discredit upon the person concerned: it is allowable to tell a ludicrous story about one's friend, but not a story that makes him appear ridiculous. A thing may be ludicrous, etc., on account of its unreasonableness or violation of common sense; if it is ridiculous, it is certainly on that account. That is laughable which simply provokes a hearty laugh.
Wiktionary
- adj. Idiotic or unthinkable, often to the point of being funny.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Adapted to excite laughter, without scorn or contempt; sportive.
- adj. Ridiculously absurd.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. incongruous;inviting ridicule
- adj. broadly or extravagantly humorous; resembling farce
Etymologies
- First attested in 1619. From Latin lūdicrus, from lūdō ("play"). (Wiktionary)
- From Latin lūdicrus, sportive, from lūdus, game; see leid- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Saturday, Mandela and Deputy President Thabo Mbeki's offices denied what they called ludicrous allegations by Federal Alliance leader”
“More difficult to explain is the laughter excited by scenes or narrations which we call ludicrous, funny, grotesque, comic; and still more so the derisive and contemptuous laugh.”
“The earliest laughter did not arise from what we call the ludicrous, but from something apparently physical -- such as touch -- though it does not follow that it would never otherwise have existed at all, for, as the mind more fully developed itself, facial expressions would flow from superior and more numerous causes.”
History of English Humour, Vol. 1 (of 2) With an Introduction upon Ancient Humour
“I ask can their leadership continue to spin ludicrous one minute sound bits and claim sound principled governance abilities.”
“The majority of folks know bigotry when they see it, and this quarrel is pretty ludicrous from the get-go.”
“Silly little things usually depicting stickmen dying in ludicrous and humorous ways.”
“What makes your accusation even more ludicrous is that I don't label that many films for purchase, period.”
“The plots, of course, remain ludicrous: last year featured soap's first Lesbian Love Triangle Murder By Parachute Sabotage.”
The Guardian: The post-watershed wonder of Hollyoaks Later is worth celebrating
“Second, and more ludicrous, is that people explode when exposed to vaccuum.”
“Irrational behavior: contributing a factor of production to the global economy that is already in ludicrous excess supply and valued as such by the marketplace.”
Poverty and Social Pressure, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘ludicrous’.
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Test Prep or Just for fun
Building a list for standardized test prep or just for learning some new words! Please add any words that you feel are important for the SAT/GRE/GMAT etc...
throng, morass, parley, facile, kismet, strife, jetsam, carrion, annex, harbinger, vestige, surreptitious and 575 more...
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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hunting
crudely, unequivocal, obsolete, obscure, overtly, misdeed, shack, inherent, outcry, hefty, composed, poised and 318 more...
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Naresh_Special
portent, organically, malicious, sham, olfactory, vertebrates, protuberance, sensilla, flagitious, pleonastic, exiguous, wayward and 102 more...
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jaydrox's list
Mah list!
mediocracy, captivatingly, devastatingly, dazedly, heavenly, flawless, copious, conviction, synoptic, amalgamation, prefatory, precursory and 150 more...
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Words sung by: Belle and Sebastian
beguiling, herbaceous, peninsula, suffragette, damascan, hastening, berserk, overtime, leccy, bestow, swathe, arab strap and 193 more...
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Hence
Words with definitions that have a "hence" in them.
hanger, Deet, tripe, spindlelegs, fiddle, store, pluck, snap, villain, link, comedy, particular and 410 more...
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Amber's list
This is a list of my favorite words, words that sound beautiful, or ones that have inspired me. I usually most enjoy words for which I can strongly associate pictures. I hope this list will also ...
clandestine, sumptuous, erogenous, operose, evanescent, panache, sparge, ludicrous, wholehearted, anodyne, eclat, legerdemain and 2 more...
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hmm
i've decided i love these words
ludicrous, awesome, psyched, supercilious, superlicious, clownish, as a phrase "bomb", hi, almost, hots, no, cozy
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general search words
words when I found them in the articles
benign, pantomime, deregulation, regressive, morose, staid, mercurial, temperament, ludicrous, fallacy, discord, afloat and 17 more...
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dream words
( randomness, dreams, creativity )
words or phrases related to all things dreamyphantasmagoria, illusion, imagination, slumber, sky, moon, cloud nine, lucid, fantasy, creativity, somnambulism, dreamer and 39 more...
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GRE Readings
sophistry, religious, venture, touching, slander, rotunda, singular, spurious, rhetoric, virtue, temper, tardy and 133 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6689 more...
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pusadolfo's list
wicked, sycophant, zephyr, callipygian, ubiquitous, superfluous, halcyon, conundrum, perspicacious, acute, virtuous, ludicrous and 7 more...
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Twitter favourites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favourite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
thunderfuck, incredible, merp, sara, flopparoo, smother, fugly, buer, plum, canny, nefelibata, cuntbucket and 1972 more... -
Words I Know
List of most of the words I've learned
garner, abase, abate, abdicate, abduct, aberration, abet, abhor, abide, abject, abjure, abnegation and 1046 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for ludicrous.

yarb I'd say ludicrous and laughable have moved closer to parity with ridiculous since the Century's disquisition. I've also noticed that ludicrous (along with the other synonyms discussed here) is often used to mean unbelievable or incredible - to describe a feat of athletic skill, for example, or a long shift of work, or anything generally impressive. Jan 19, 2012
ruzuzu "Synonyms Funny, Comical, Droll, Ludicrous, Ridiculous, Laughable. Either the direct action of laughter or a corresponding sentiment is included in the signification of all these terms.
In this respect laughable is the generic word, but it is also one of the strongest. Funny is the weakest of the list, ranging from the meaning of ‘amusing’ or ‘odd’ down to its colloquial use in the sense of ‘strange.’ Comical still retains a faint suggestion of its origin in connection with the drama, being primarily used in connection with something done or seen, and hence something viewed by the mind: a comical predicament is just such as would be fit for exhibition in a comedy. Droll especially implies the odd or unfamiliar: as, a droll story, idea, fellow. Ludicrous is an advance in strength upon comical, as comical is an advance upon funny. Ridiculous is the only word in the list that throws contempt or even discredit upon the person concerned: it is allowable to tell a ludicrous story about one's friend, but not a story that makes him appear ridiculous. A thing may be ludicrous, etc., on account of its unreasonableness or violation of common sense; if it is ridiculous, it is certainly on that account. That is laughable which simply provokes a hearty laugh."
--CD&C Jan 19, 2012
Prolagus Song quotation on frock. Sep 15, 2008